The Black Phoenix
by 666 Black Panther
Summary: Post OotP. Originally 'Harry Potter, Black Phoenix', rewritten with kind permission. Harry tries to get his mind off all the pain he's suffered and one thing leads to another. Ron and slight Dumbledore bashing. GreyDark Harry. HONKS.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer:Ido not own Harry Potter.

A/N:  
Original story by darknessallover, 'Harry Potter, Black Phoenix'. Rewritten with permission and given ownership of this story. Thanks.

---- - ----

"Why does everything happen to me?" Thought the young man lying on his bed, "My parents, Cedric, and now Sirius. Why did it happen? Why? Why? WHY?" It was the same question that he had been asking himself for days.

He was on his fourth day now, spending it, like all the days before it, by locking himself in his room. He turned and looked at the calendar above his bed; he now had fifty-six days left instead of sixty.

"God it's going to be a long summer." He thought.

If only Dumbledore had let him know everything when he'd asked, or ever better, the day he'd entered the Wizarding World. But no, the old wizard kept everything from him until one, it was too late and two, he was in no shape to really take it in or deal with it.

Damn Dumbledore for keeping things from him, damn Snape for not teaching him when he was supposed to, damn Bellatrix for killing Sirius and damn Voldemort for choosing him.

The only person who was there for him unconditionally was Hermione but she too had turned her back on him and started going out with Ron. He wasn't mad at Hermione for going out with someone else; what ticked him off was that it was Ron, annoying little prat that he was.

He'd always suspected that Ron was jealous of his fame and fortune, especially after how the red head acted when he was picked as the fourth champion to take part in the Tri-wizard Tournament.

The prick finally showed his true colours when he and Hermione started dating shortly after what happened at the Department of Mysteries. He started showing off that he had a girlfriend and the great Harry Potter didn't and that if he hadn't been there with Harry at the Department of Mysteries, Harry would probably be dead and that it would be up to him to save the Wizarding World.

Hermione, being who she was and never having been in a real relationship before, stuck by Ron. He wasn't sure if the reason she wasn't contacting him was Ron or Dumbledore or maybe both but it didn't matter. The point was, she wasn't contacting him, and though he didn't hate her for it nor was he really angry, it still hurt.

"If they turned on me, then I'll turn on them." He thought to himself then out loud, "They want to control me? Well let them try!"

He got up and stretched his atrophied muscles, put on some clothes, and stuffed his invisibility cloak and wand into his pocket. He went downstairs to the kitchen, the clock over the stove said 11:45. His relatives were already eating lunch. He grabbed a plate, went to the fridge and made a sandwich, all the while being eyed by his 'family'. He sat down and started eating. When he finished, he sat back, the Durselys still watching him.

He looked across at them, "You know what?" he asked them amiably, "I'm going out into town to find a job, if anyone comes around looking for me tell'em to go screw themselves. Okay?" They nodded stupidly.

---- Town Area ----

He walked into the little shop, it was a pawnshop run by a guy who happened to be a loan shark, or so he had heard from the guys standing in the ally next door. He looked around, there were all sorts of junk on shelves and such, and the guy behind the counter was arguing with a customer. "If you don't pay back the loan, and the interest, you'll be seeing a couple of my employees!" the customer walked out and shot a dirty look at the man.

"Hey kid, looking for something?" he was about six foot, with thinning black hair and looked able to throw Harry across the room with little effort.

"Yeah, something to do. I need to do something, anything, I'll do it. No cost or anything, just wanna do something."

The man looked over him suspiciously, "What's the catch, you want protection or something?" He tried to find any indication of deception but couldn't find any.

"Please, give me something to do so you know that you can trust me." He pleaded; the man frowned in concentration and walked into the back room.

Harry stood inside looking over the various items in there; a set of knives in a display case caught his attention. Very long, almost dagger like, he felt drawn to the short daggers.

The man came out to see the boy staring at a set of daggers no one really wanted. He was holding a backpack in one hand. "Hey kid, here," tossing Harry the bag, "take this across town to the owner of a place called The Eclipse. Tell him it's from Pat."

Harry took it, his first thought was about what was in the bag, and his second was he didn't care. "Okay, sure."

He took the bag and threw it across his shoulders, then went to a telephone booth to look up the location of this place. Once he found it, he set off, he was going to be walking for a while, when Pat said it was across town, he meant it. He would probably be walking for an hour. He spent the journey thinking and ordering his mind. He had things he wanted to do. But they could wait; he would enjoy himself for now, do some things impulsively.

But if he was to be doing this type of stuff all summer, the first thing he would need was the ability to protect himself. He knew at one point or another he was going to get into trouble. There might be a prophecy saying only Tommy boy could kill him, but he was sure that he could be extremely injured and that would piss him off. Plus it would help him deal with Tommy boy's ass kissing followers.

The second would be to get some new clothes, he was sick off wearing Dudley's hand-me-downs which were anything but comfortable, and if this job took off he expected that he'd need to have a little more of an intimidating image.

And lastly, maybe get a car or something; it was damn boring to be walking for these types of errands.

He finally made it to the place; it was a bar, underneath a small shop up above. He walked down the stairs to the entrance, it was open and he walked in. there was no one there, except the bartender.

"Hey are you the owner of this place?" Harry inquired; he wanted to get out and back to Pat's, maybe he could do something else.

"Who's asking?" The bartender asked him, suspicious.

"A guy named Pat sent me." He answered.

The man looked relieved, "Yeah, I am. What does he have for me?"

"I don't know, he just gave me this," he slid the bag across the counter, "and told me to give it to you."

The man opened the bag and pulled out a small stack of pounds, he counted them and then, looked up amazed at Harry, "You didn't take any of it!?" Harry looked at him in confusion. "You didn't even open the bag." The guy looked at him, "Well, you passed the test with flying colors."

Harry's confusion ebbed a bit at this, "Of course it was a test, stupid." Harry told himself.

"Even I would like you work for me, here." he reached under the table and grabbed two things, a suitcase, and another bag,

"If you take this case to the owner of the place across the street from Pat's and the bag to Pat's, I'll give you a hundred pounds, but only if both are unopened and untouched."

Harry looked a bit shocked at the money offered to deliver a couple of things; he could learn to like this. Harry nodded; the man then reached under again, and pulled three things, a few pounds, a bottle of lime wine cooler, and a switch-blade.

He gave all of these to Harry; "Here I don't know how you got here, but take a cab this time. You can have the drink; it's really hot out. And if someone gets a little too interested in the case or bag, that knife should help." He grinned at Harry.

Harry stuffed the knife in his back pocket and the money in his wallet. He took off the cap to the bottle, tipped it back and took a sip.

"By the by, my name is Nate." Harry nodded absently, he was looking at the bottle in surprise, it was really good. He downed the bottle and looked up to see the amused face of Nate, "Never seen a kid down a bottle a like that, you can have another if you want." He pulled another out, and handed it to Harry who put it in his pocket for later; he would definitely need to get more of these things.

He said goodbye to Nate and went outside to hail a cab, once he was out he went into the shop across the street from Pat's, it was a bank. He went inside and to a door that said 'Sean Deaby, Owner and Manager', he knocked on the door ignoring the protests of the tellers.

A young man opened it, and looked down at him, "May I help you," he said pompously, Harry held up a case, "Nate from The Eclipse, told me to give you this." He said holding up the case, Sean dragged him inside the office. "Ok, how much did he give you to do this?"

Harry watched the man, he seemed to be anxious about something, he kept eyeing the case. "He IS going to give me a hundred pounds. Why?"

Sean looked a little shocked, "That's all he's giving you? Do you know what is in this case?"

Harry continued watching just to make sure he wouldn't try anything, "No." Sean's eyes widened, "And I don't really care, I'm just the delivery boy. I take the stuff where they tell me, and keep my nose out."

Sean looked impressed "Ok, I'll give you two hundred pounds to never mention this briefcase again." He whispered, pointing towards the case on his desk. He pulled a few notes and put them in Harry's hand.

Harry nodded to him, and walked out. What did he care about a case, and why did these people think he would go snooping through the packages?

Harry exited the bank and crossed the street and went back into the pawnshop, he went up to Pat who was sitting behind the counter and reading a book. Harry lay down the bag in front of Pat, "Okay here, I completed your test. I hope I earned your trust 'cause I earned a couple others'."

Pat checked the contents of the bag as Harry walked over to showcase with the daggers and sheaths on display, they looked good. They were marked at 150 pounds for five daggers, well, four daggers and a short sword.

"Hey Pat can I buy those?" he pointed at the set.

Pat looked at them, "Yeah, take'em, I haven't been able to get rid of them for ages, no charge."

He unlocked the case and handed the knives to Harry, who was deciding what to do with them. The daggers had 5½-inch blades with sheaths that swapped to either his arms or legs and the short sword had 12-inch blade with a sheath and a leather belt that could either secure it to his waist or on his back. He couldn't wear them, now not with his over-sized short sleeve shirt and baggy jeans.

Pat seemed to read his mind and gave him an empty backpack at no extra charge. Harry gave his thanks and packed his newly acquired weapons.

He was about to leave to collect his fee from Nate but stopped when Pat called him, "Hey kid! I never got your name."

"Harry."

"Well Harry come back tomorrow, I might have something for you." Harry nodded and left the shop.

---- The Eclipse ----

Nate was on having a conversation on the phone went Harry walked through the door and approached him.

"Yeah, yeah. Alright, got it. Hey, welcome back kid. I see nothing went wrong." He greeted Harry as he got of the phone.

"Yes. Now if you don't mind, I'm here for my fee."

"Of course. Here you go." Nate handed him a wad of bills which he counted.

"You gave me a hundred extra."

"You're some kid. Most others would have just taken the extra and left. Anyway I just got off the phone with Pat and we decided to keep you on full time. The extra is for you to get some decent clothes."

"Alright." He turned to left.

"Your name's Harry right?"

Harry turned and nodded.

"Just making sure."

---- Number 4, Privet Drive ----

Harry walked towards his relatives' home dressed in his new clothes. He'd been working for Pat and Nate for a little over a week now and had traded in his new jeans and t-shirt look for something more intimidating.

He was decked out in black steel-toe boots and black jeans held up by a steel studded belt. His black leather jacket covered his black t-shirt and hid the two daggers he strapped to the inside of it perfectly.

A new pair of shades completed his new look. He'd bought the shades along with a few pairs of contact lens after he bought his new clothes.

Flashback

Harry walked into a department store that sold mainly biker, leather and other similar clothes.

He looked around the store and got the clothes that he thought would give him the right image and were comfortable.

When he placed his items on the counter the salesman looked at him as if he was vermin and told him in a pompous voice that Harry could not afford this stuff and that he should leave.

Harry was pissed but he maintained his composure and took out a bunch of hundred pound bills and slammed them on the counter. The salesman's face lit up as if he'd just seen God and started to ring up the items. Harry just smirked at him.

End Flashback

Sure it cost him most of his earnings but it felt great to spend the cash he'd earned and buy some decent muggle clothes. And he was sure that his new look would help with his future jobs.

Right now he felt pretty good. Hopefully there would be a job for him tomorrow and he'd have a little more spending money. He was only able to get a couple extra pairs of socks and boxers which he kept in his pack.

"Boy! Where did you get those clothes?! Did you steal them?! They're far too expensive for you to afford!" Vernon yelled, his face turning purple.

"You mean for you to afford." He thought but answered, "I bought them, courtesy of my new job."

Harry just walked past Vernon and up the stairs towards his room only to be confronted by Dudley.

"OY! Freak where did you get those clothes!?"

"I. Bought. Them. Dudley" as through speaking to a four year old, "With money I got from working. You should try it sometimes."

Dudley make a sour face and pulled his arm back for a punch, but Harry's Quidditch honed reflexes were faster and he drew his daggers first, one at Dudley's neck and another between his legs.

"Give me a reason, Dudley. Make a move or say a word and you'll be just a wee-bit shorter." Harry pressed the dagger that was between Dudley's legs a little harder to his family jewels, "Or maybe I should do the world a favor and make sure you don't contaminate the gene pool."

Harry sheathed his daggers as he walked away, trying to ignore the fact that his tub-of-lard of a cousin had wet himself.

"Oh and Dudley, I don't want to hear ANYTHING about you bullying other kids. You hear me?" Harry warned and Dudley just nodded dumbly.

"Good boy. Now scram." Dudley ran into his room and locked himself in as Harry smirked and entered his room.

TBC

Please review but be gentle. XP

Thanks


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N:  
Original story by darknessallover, 'Harry Potter, Black Phoenix'. Rewritten with permission and given ownership of this story.

For those that have read the original, about 75-90 (give or take) of the original story is pretty much the same just more indepth and detailed with new ideas/scenes. Of the original 9 chapters (8 were published) the first 8 are ready and I'll post them up every 2-3 weeks so that I have some leeway to not get jammed like some of my other stories... unless you guys really want me to post them up faster.

For those who did not read the original, this will be Harry & Tonks, I decided to stick to that pairing. It's one of my favourites anyway.

---- - ----

A dark blue Honda ST rolled down the pavement of Little Whinging, bringing stares from all of the residents of Privet drive. Its rider continued on without noticing anything, a helmet with a tinted visor preventing nosy onlookers from recognizing the person's face.

The bike rolled into Number 4, stopped and fell onto its kickstand. The rider got off, only to be confronted by one of the residents of Number 4, Vernon Dursley. The bike's rider ignored the man as Vernon tried to gain his attention.

"What is the meaning of this? Who are you and why are you at my house?" Vernon fumed, as the rider, who continued to ignore him, took off his helmet and placed it on his bike.

"Because Uncle," he stressed, "I live here." Harry turned to face a speechless Vernon.

His uncle stuttered, sputtered and finally gave up, turning towards the house. "Where did you get a motorcycle?" He demanded, looking at him in surprise.

"My employer thought that it would be a good idea for me to get a ride. So he got it for me." Well it was partially true.

Pat and Nate thought that it would be a good idea for Harry to get some form of transportation since he'd been working for them for almost four weeks, during which he'd been doing more difficult and/or more dangerous jobs, over longer distances to boot.

Nate had a contact who wanted to get rid of the hot bike. Harry paid for the repairs and parts to trick-out his new ride, while Pat and Nate paid for the bike itself. After all, good help was hard to find these days.

---- - ----

The next morning he woke and checked off another day, it would be about another month before he had to leave for Hogwarts, and he decided it was time he told his friends he'd be going off to a boarding school and maybe even tell the truth to Pat and Nate.

Harry walked over to his recently acquired full length mirror to get ready for the day, he had one job today, collecting some dues, and then it was off to Diagon Alley.

He took some time to take in the changes he'd undergone over the last month. Gone was the pale, skinny and scared looking boy, now, he was lean, tanned and tough. He had spent many hours in the gym training, making sure not to bulk-up too much, he still wanted to play seeker, just enough not to look like some walking skeleton.

He'd gotten some tattoos about two weeks after he started 'working'; the first one was an owl with a lightening bolt held in its talons. It was an idea given to him by some of his friends when they first saw Hedwig fly to Harry. Its head, body and the lightening bolt were on his left arm, ending about five inches above his elbow, and the wings spread to his left pec and shoulder blade.

On his right arm he had a King Cobra posed to strike, its body coiled round his arm and stopping just above his elbow. He thought it was appropriate since he was a parselmouth, even Voldie had a pet snake.

The largest was a Thestral which he had described to the artist, who had been more than happy to do something so beautiful and frightening at the same time. This tattoo covered most of his back.

On his right pec were the symbols of two of the gangs in Surrey, Harry had never known of any of them till a few days into his new work. Starting from his collar bone were three red claw marks, the mark of the Red Claw gang. They had seen him pull off a car jack with particular ease and had enlisted him on sight.

Below that was a black raven, the mark of the Ravens, Nate had put him in touch with them when he heard that about the car jacking from the Red Claws. Harry never thought he would be using his father's old cloak to rob, but he did. It made him even richer than he'd ever been before.

He had also gotten three piercings on his left ear, which wore three jeweled studs (a diamond, an emerald and a ruby). He used to wear silver rings, and even had a nose and lip ring too. He particularly enjoyed these, as the Dursleys had taken especial exception to them, so he loved them but decided to remove them when he saw one of his friends get part of his ear and lower lip ripped off in a fight.

He quickly pulled a tight t-shirt over his head and tightened his belt. He walked over to his bed and pulled a medium sized steel case from under it and unlocked it, revealing an array of weapons. Inside were his original daggers and short sword but along with those were two butterfly blades and a three different switch blades (including the one Nate gave him), as well as two pairs of brass knuckles.

His new favorite toys were at the bottom of the case, a 5.6mm Beretta model 89 and a Desert Eagle. He still wasn't able to use the Desert Eagle properly so he relied more on the Beretta, but it was still a good tool for intimidation and as a back up.

Harry strapped on his weapons and threw his jacket on, hiding pretty much all his weapons including his short sword. However, this made it hard to draw quickly as he had to reach into the back of his jacket, but at least it was hidden.

---- - ----

Once Harry was dressed and had grabbed something from the fridge, he left without saying goodbye to the Dursleys, who were doing their best to act like he did not exist anyway. It suited him just fine as long as they left the door open when he got back. If not, he'd just have to pick the lock again.

As he walked out the door, he immediately felt someone watching him, they were in an invisibility cloak by the driveway. Harry kept walking as if he'd never noticed anything. He walked towards his bike, if he was right he would go right by the person as he drove by.

Harry hopped onto the bike, turned the key and felt the engine start. The person had not moved. Harry turned the bike around, and continued until it was a few feet in front of the person.

He twisted the handle, rocketed forward to snatch the cloak from the person, and sped away. When he was far enough away he turned back, and saw Remus Lupin still recovering from the shock. He waved and laughed at his old friend. Harry folded up his new cloak and hurried off towards London.

His babysitters seemed content to let him go about his business instead of trying to keep him locked up this time, not that they could stop him if they tried. Well, maybe they could, if he was honest with himself, but he'd sure make them work hard for it.

---- London – Slum Area ----

Harry pulled up to a rundown apartment building. He got off his bike and headed inside and towards the elevator which was out of order.

"Son of a bitch." Harry cursed. He was going to have to climb fifteen flights of stairs.

When he got to the fifteenth floor he found the apartment he was looking for and knocked on the door. The door opened slightly, held by the safety chain, and a tall bald man looked down at Harry.

"What do _you_ want?" He asked rudely.

"I'm here to collect for Pat."

He man snorted, "Fuck off kid." And tried to close the door, only to be hit in the face and thrown back when Harry kicked the door in, breaking the chain.

"I don't think you heard me clearly. I'm here to collect what you owe."

The man crawled towards the dining table and tried to grab a revolver on it, only to have one of Harry's daggers stab right through his hand, pinning it to the wood. The man screamed in pain and tried to pull the dagger out of his hand but Harry pushed it down harder and started to twist the blade causing him to scream louder.

Harry picked up the revolver, "Hmmm… not bad. A Smith & Wesson Combat Masterpiece Model 15 revolver with 4 inch barrel." He opened it to inspect the gun, all the while still leaning onto the dagger with his left hand. "Very well taken care of. You don't mind if I take this, do you? Thanks." He closed the gun and pocketed it and a few bullets lying around before the guy could say anything.

Harry pulled the dagger out of the man's hand and dragged him up to look him in the eye, "Now where is the money you owe?"

"I… I don't have… it" he stammered and ended up screaming again when Harry stabbed his hand once more.

"Try again."

"I don't… AHHHHH!!!" Harry twisted the blade. "ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT!"

Harry pulled the dagger out and followed the man into the bedroom where he pulled a shoe box from a drawer in the nightstand. He opened the box and gave it to Harry. Harry flipped through the different stacks of pounds and estimated that everything was there plus a little extra.

"Now was that so hard?" Harry asked as he turned to leave, only to spin around and shoot the man between the eyes who dropped his sawed-off shotgun.

"You won't be needing this." Harry took the shotgun, looked under the bed and found a box of shells and another shoebox with four thousand pounds in it, not as much as the other, but this was his bonus he guessed.

Harry pulled out his cellphone and hit the speed dial, "Yeah?" Pat's voice came over the phone.

"It's Harry. I got the cash but I wouldn't be expecting a repeat visit from the dead-beat anymore."

"Ah. Good job."

"I'm heading in." He ended the call, pulled out a cigarette pack from inside his jacket and lit up.

Harry wasn't a regular smoker, nor was he a social smoker; in fact the only time he ever smoked was after he killed someone. This was not the first time Harry had killed someone, but every time he did, he'd have one to try to calm down.

The first time he killed someone was in a gang fight when some new gang tried to move in on the Red Claws' turf. Harry was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Some guy tried to knife him, only to lose his arm, then his head to Harry's short sword. He shot another in the throat and two more somewhere on their bodies. Harry was glad he had a light lunch that day; he spent quite a long time with his hands on his knees after that.

He'd gotten used to taking other's lives, which he considered a good thing with that damn prophecy and Lord Modybutt on his case. Counting the last one, he'd killed six guys outright and another three had died from their injuries over the last month.

He finished his cigarette, got on his bike and headed off.

---- Pat's Pawnshop ----

Harry walked through the door with the shoebox of money under his arm. He walked over to the counter where he found Pat talking to Nate.

"Hey Nate. What're you doing here?" He asked as he handed the box over to Pat to check.

"Just paying a visit Harry."

"Actually it's a good thing you're here. I've been meaning to tell you guys something. I won't be able to do anymore jobs when the summer ends. In fact if it's alright with you guys, today will be my last job till next summer."

He was rather surprised to notice small smiles on both Pat and Nate's faces. If he didn't know any better, he'd think that they were expecting this.

"So you heading back to Hogwarts then?" Pat asked.

If Harry was surprised before, he was floored now. Apparently he didn't know better.

"How… how did you know?"

"Come on Harry, or should I be calling you Mr. Potter? You didn't really think that an operation as big and connected as ours wouldn't have any dealings with the Wizarding World, did you? After all, we go where the money is." Nate answered.

"How long?" Harry could hardly think straight.

"Right after you started training with Master Lin. He's a wizard you know?"

Harry's mouth just hung open.

"You know you can contact us anytime if you need anything. Not easy having some madman running after your arse is it?" Pat offered.

"Thanks."

"You know you might have to make up some kind of story for the guys, you know? They're at the Raven's Claw right now."

"Boarding school overseas."

"That will work, but you might want to add more details than that you know." Nate chuckled at Harry's lack of response.

Harry shook his head to try and clear his head, "Right. Right, I understand. Look I got to go. I'll keep in touch, I promise."

"See ya."

"Keep in touch."

---- London – Red Claw & Ravens' Terraity ----

Harry parked his bike in front of the Raven's Claw, it was a club opened by Nate and used as a meeting ground for the Red Claws and Ravens, who had neighboring territories.

Pat and Nate had been doing business with the gangs for quite a while now so it was in everyone's best interest to keep the peace. It worked in Harry's favor since he didn't need to worry about making anyone angry by working for someone else.

"Hey! Scar!" one of the gang members greeted Harry as he entered the club.

Scar was the nickname Harry had picked up after earning some street cred for all the jobs he did.

"Hey. Look I got something to tell you guys."

Everyone turned their attention to Harry and waited for him to continue.

"I'll be heading off to a boarding school in Scotland at the end of the summer, and probably won't be back till the next one."

"WHAT!"

"YOU'VE GOT TO BE SHITTING ME!"

"WHAT THE FUCK!?"

And so it went on like that for a while, every member of the gang cursing and swearing or moaning about why, when or why didn't he tell them sooner. And then the few female members of the gang said that they were going to miss him, some even started crying.

"Well if Scar's leaving next month, then I say we plan one heck'uva a going away party!" Mike, the leader of the Red Claws suggested.

"I second that!" Rico, leader of the Ravens yelled.

Cheers went up as the gang ordered another round of drinks.

---- London – Cobra Strike Dojo ----

Harry walked into the dojo and called out to Master Lin, who appeared from the backroom.

"Ah. Harry. I was wondering when you were going to pay me a visit today after I got the call from Pat."

Master Lin was a tall balding Asian man who trained most of Nate and Pat's regular hands, some of the gang members and almost all the enforcers of the other big time gangsters/mobsters in the area. Because of that Master Lin was well protected and lived a comfortable yet simple lifestyle.

He'd trained Harry over the last three weeks, six days a week, four hours a day. It was this tough training schedule and Harry's own determination and anger that helped him progress as quickly as he did. He wasn't a master by anyone's standards, least of all Master Lin's, nor was he good enough to win a tournament, but so far he was good enough to stay alive on the streets.

"Why didn't you tell me you were a wizard and knew who I was?"

"I didn't think it wise to burst your bubble. You seemed quite content in pretending to be a normal person instead of the savior of the Wizarding World, and perhaps the world in general."

"Why'd you leave the Wizarding World?"

"About a year before you defeated Voldemort, some of his followers killed my family. When they were caught I expected justice, but in the end they bought their way out or spewed some rubbish excuse to get off the hook. I voiced my opinion and what I got was six months in Azkaban."

"I'm sorry about your family and what happened to you. Is that why you trained me harder than anyone else?"

"Yes. I may have left magic behind me, but I still hear things and the return of Voldemort was one of them. I knew you needed to prepare."

"Master Lin. Thank you for everything you have done for me." Harry bowed in respect and Master Lin returned the gesture. "I don't know how much more time I can spend with you. I need to start training in magic for the next month before I head back to Hogwarts."

"I understand Harry; just remember not to let your skill deteriorate. I have a gift for you." Master Lin brought out a three foot long rectangular box. He opened it, revealing two silver escrima sticks. "I had these made for you the day you walked through my doors. I knew that one day you would have to face your enemies. Take them."

Harry grabbed a stick in each hand and started going through some of the katas he'd been taught. In addition to hand-to-hand, sword and knife training, Harry was also given training in stick and staff fighting, which he enjoyed more than almost anything else.

Master Lin watched with pride as Harry joined both escrima sticks at the tips and secured them into a jo staff with a twist and carried on with his katas.

The older man gave him a holster which would hold the sticks above his short sword. Master Lin told Harry that they were charmed to be unbreakable and could be called back to him, but he would need to practice.

After practice, Harry had some tea with Master Lin who also gave him directions to the shop where he had the sticks made and charmed.

He bid goodbye to Master Lin and promised that he would drop by for at least two or three more training sessions before he left for Hogworts.

"Alright. Off to Diagon Alley then." He said to himself and sped off in the direction of the Leaky Cauldron.

TBC

A/N:  
Well there's the second chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. In all honesty, I'm rather hesistant about publishing the chapters for this story cos my Beta does not like the original and pretty much refuses to touch this. I've read them over and over and over again but I still find little mistakes once in a while especially my spelling.

The good news is that she's back for a surprise visit and we might be able to strike a deal which might involve me and a pair of bunny ears at the Cosfest, this Sat.

Of cos if someone else is willing to volunteer, I don't mind but I should warn you I might get stuck/jammed either b'cos of writer's block or b'cos I'm busy/working on other stories. I might not be able to update regularly, I've actually had this story for a year before publishing it.

I'm also having a bit of problems since some noob infected the local computer network at my base with a virus so they're clamping down on thumbdrives and such so I got less time to work on my fics.

Anyway, thanks for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N:  
Original story by darknessallover, 'Harry Potter, Black Phoenix'. Rewritten with permission and given ownership of this story. Thanks.

Sorry to put this up so late. My sister was in the hospital for a week and spent most of my spare time there.

Well could strike a deal with my beta though my gf did like me in the bunny ears but my importantly I think I'll just keep going as I am, most I just pull/replace the chapter if there's any major mistake. What'd you think?

Here's chapter 3. Enjoy.

---- Diagon Alley – Leaky Cauldron ----

Harry stepped into The Leaky Cauldron, it was the same as always; people here and there, anybody and everything imaginable. All staring at him. He did indeed look like a muggle. He pulled his wand and flipped it about in front of them. They turned away, never seeing the scar on his head. Well, you know what they say, hidden in plain view.

He continued into Diagon Alley, he had some things to get. But first he needed money, so he headed to Gringotts.

He walked over to an open teller and recognized the Goblin at the counter, "Afternoon."

The Goblin raised an eyebrow and looked up from his work, "Ah Mr. Potter. We've been trying to get a hold of you for quite some time now. I take it your financial advisor has given you the news regarding your Godfather's will?"

This was unexpected, "Noo…" Harry answered slowly while shaking his head.

He had thought of something this summer, if his parents owned a house, then maybe there was more and he was going to ask for an overview of his finances. It did cross his mind that his Godfather might have left him something but he did not expect much if anything.

The Goblin's face grew into a sneer, "It is as we have feared it seems. If you do not mind Mr. Potter, please follow me to a private room where we will discuss your finances."

Harry just followed the goblin into a private room where he took a seat in front of a table.

"Well this day certainty's been full of surprises. Wonder what else can happen?" he thought.

An elderly looking Goblin walked through the door and Harry stood up to greet the Goblin who was followed by another goblin a stack of documents.

"Ah. Good to meet my milord. I am Goldtooth, President of Gringotts."

"Lord? I think you are mistaken. I'm just Harry or on a more formal basis Mr. Potter. Keyword being Mister."

"Please, take a seat while I explain. You see milord, with the pasting of your Godfather Lord Sirius Black, you come to inherit his title and most of the Black fortune after the other benefactors. And now that you are a legal adult in the Wizarding World and after the paperwork is done in the muggle World, you also inherit the title of Lord Potter as well as the Potter fortune."

Goldtooth gave Harry a moment to absorb this information, "This is Griphook who was promoted late last year and appointed as Gringott's overseer of your family accounts.

Griphook bowed, "It is good to see you again milord."

Harry gathered his wits and looked at the goblin, "Sorry. I can't quite place when I meet you but your name does sound familiar."

Griphook just him a toothy grin, "That is alright milord. We first meet about five years ago, I was a mere junior teller then and I brought you and your giant friend down to your trust vault."

"Ah. Yes. I remember you. Nice to see you again."

Griphook bowed again and walked over to Harry and handed him part of the stack of documents, "These are an overview and a breakdown of all your assets."

Harry quickly skimmed through the overview, it seemed that that combined total of the Potter and Black fortunes which included several properties and shares in many different muggle and wizard companies, put his total net worth around the fifteen billon galleon mark. Making him the richest wizard in the World but still no where near the riches man in the World.

"Well that's still a far off fantasy I guess but this will definitely help with my plans to deal with Dumbledore and Voldemort. Once I get an idea of what I want to done to them anyway." He thought to himself.

"Milord…"

"Harry."

"Excuse me?"

"Call me Harry. I'm not use to all this title stuff plus it's rather uncomfortable. I prefer first names if you don't mind?"

"Of course. That is what is quite unique about you Harry. Not many wizards and witches can be bothered to be quite as civil as you are, that's why we return the courtesy."

"Thank you, I guess."

"Well the other reason we asked you in here was that recent events have made us suspicious of your financial advisor who oversees your finances…"

"Wait. Who oversees my accounts?" As if he hadn't already guessed.

"One Albus Dumbledore."

Harry just growled. "Son of a bitch, I should have guessed." He mumbled to himself.

Goldtooth nodded to Griphook who took out another stack of papers and handed them to Harry, "These are all the transactions that have taken place from your family's vault since your parents' death."

Harry looked through the papers and found that every year since his parents deaths, nearly twenty million galleons was taken out of his family's account and spread amongst varies other accounts. The largest withdrawal was done last year, over five million galleons were taken from his account and spread amongst many other accounts.

Harry's breathing were coming in deeper and slower breathes, sounding almost like growls. He looked over at who made the transactions, Dumbledore.

"THAT BASTARD!" He yelled as he ripped the papers in half.

The two Goblins were taken aback by Harry's outburst.

"Harry, we were under the impression that you were aware of all his actions. You see, we had a document with your parents' signatures on it stating that one, if in the event of your parents death, one Albus Dumbledore would be the overseer of your family's till you started schooling at Hogwarts which is not unusual considering the times. It would have raised too many questions if he was given total control." Goldtooth explained, "We had no reason to doubt the document authenticity as well as other documents authorizing the withdrawal from your family's account with your signature on it."

Harry raised his eyebrow at that, "But I've never signed any documents regarding my family's account in fact I thought all I had was in vault 513 when I first came here."

"We know Harry. Vault 513 is a trust vault set-up for you by your parents till you become of age. But Dumbledore could not have any access to your family's account once you started school without your signature. Before that he could not withdraw too much at once if not he would draw suspicion on him as we would not normally report small transactions."

"So what finally made you decide to check on my account?"

"It is Gringotts' policy not to reveal the contents of a will to anyone other than the benefactors and whoever they choose. And since we knew the content of the will including your emancipation and taking up the titles of head of both the Potter and Black house, we could not reveal it to him. But his persistent of getting a hold of your part of the will as well as who the new head of the Black house is made us grow suspicious and we decided to review all the past documents."

Griphook handled him another stack of documents, "We found that these documents on top with your signature on them were forged. We did not know this till we managed to get a hold of some of your school documents which were confirmed to be yours and found that the signatures did not match."

Harry came to an old looking document, "That is the original document that made Dumbledore your financial advisor. The signatures of your parents are real but we found very faint traces of what we believe to be a concealment charm on it, leading us to believe that Dumbledore might have ticked your parents into signing it."

Harry was angry, scratch that he was royally pissed off. That Old Bastard has not only been keeping HIS money from him but also stealing from him.

"How do I remove Dumbledore as my financial advisor and any access he or anyone else other than myself might have?" He asked angrily.

The Goblins gave a sinister smile and Griphook placed a stack of documents, ink well and quill on the table before him, "Just sign here."

Harry looked through the document which was a contract, stating that Harry was the taking over responsibility of his finances and that no one was to be given access to his account without his written permission or any other recognized form of withdrawal. That was fine, there was no way he'd let Dumbledore have any control over him. He signed the contract without a second thought.

"Is there anyway to get my money back or any thing I can do to Dumbledore?"

"Yes Harry. You can sue him within a year to recover the money or failing which you can send him to Azkaban. We have all the evidence and can put you in touch with some of the finest lawyers the Wizarding World has to offer. "

"That will be fine. I don't plan on tipping my hand just yet. Is Number 12 Grimmauld Place under the list of properties that I own? "

"Yes, it is and this is a complete listing of all properties currently under your control." Griphook answered as he handed him a piece of document.

Harry quickly skimmed through the list and found that he now owed several properities in England including Godric's Hollow, Number 12, Potter Manor and a house in Hogsmeade. He even has a summer house in the States from his parents and one in Frances from Sirius as well as Black Castle in Germany and a few others.

Harry looked up, "I was wondering if I might know who the other benefactors are and what they received?"

"Of course as new head of the Black House you do have the right." Goltooth flipped a few pages of his folder. "Your Godfather left the following, Remus Lupin, one hundred thousand galleons, uncollected. Nymphadora Tonks, one hundred thousand galleons, uncollected. Albus Dumbledore, one hundred and fifty thousand galleons, collected. Nasscia Black Malfoy and Draco Malfoy nothing. All other distant relatives of the Black family also received nothing unless you count the tongue lashing and rude gesture your Godfather's image gave them." Goldtooth concluded with a hint of approval in his voice.

"Amongst other thing your Godfather has given the unofficial title of Godfather to Remus Lupin. Reinstated Nymphadora Tonks and her mother to the Black family line and disinherited Bellatrix Black Lestrange, Nasscia Black Malfoy and Draco Malfoy, cutting off the allowances they've been receiving from the Black family." Griphook explained.

"An image?"

"Yes, all wills not only come in a written form but also a recorded image in the form of a pensive. In fact we do have one for you. Do you want to view it now?"

Harry was torn, he really really wanted to see his Godfather's face, to hear his voice but he needed to conclude his business here too.

In the end he made the hard choice, "No. I'll view it later but I think there are only a few more things to discuss. Why is it that Lupin and Tonks have not collected their inheritance?"

"We were told they were unable to attend. And were represented by Albus Dumbledore during the reading but we did not release the money to him as he was not their financial advisor nor did he have any legal documents authorizing him to collect on their behalf."

"Good. More ammo for the up-coming fight." Harry thought. Even if he could not convince Lupin and Tonks to join him, at least that will cause some desertion in the ranks.

"Alright. In that case, that leaves only two more matters before I would like to view the pensive. One is there an easy way for me to move in between the two vaults without have to use the cart? And I would like to have all the money from my trust vault moved to the Potter family vault."

"Of course. We took the liberty of constructing a passage way between the two vaults since they would coming under your control and are fairly close together. Now Harry before we give you some privacy there is one more small matter."

Goldtooth pulled two small boxes form his coat and slid them across the table to Harry. He opened them, revealing two rings. One had the Potter family crest on it and the other the Black family crest.

"These are the family rings of the noble houses of Potter and Black. Once you put these on you will be recognized as the Head of both houses."

Harry placed the Potter ring on his left ring finger and Black ring on his index finger. He felt something surge through him and saw the rings glow for a few seconds before returning to normal.

"The rings have accepted you and you are now officially Head of both houses. We'll give you some privacy now. Griphook will be waiting outside the door should you need anything." Goldtooth placed a small stone bowl with runes on it as he stood.

Both Goblins bowed to take their leave and Harry returned the gesture. Harry waited till the door was closed before touching the bowl. It started to glow and a miniature ghost-like image of his beloved Godfather appeared.

A tear appeared at the corner of his eye as his Godfather spoke, "Hello Harry. Or should I be calling Lord Potter-Black now…"

---- - ----

Harry stepped out of the room, having finished listening to his Godfather. Griphook stood and bowed to him.

"Is everything alright milord?"

"Griphook just called me Harry."

"I'm afraid I cannot do that milord, it would not be proper. At least in public."

"Alright. Griphook, I've decided to follow some of my Godfather's and was wondering if you will consent to be my legal financial advisor, you will of course be paid a retainer's fee of fifteen thousand galleons a year."

"My… my lord." Griphook stuttered a look of shock on his face.

"Is that not enough? Please excuse me I'm not familiar with the average pay for different jobs in the Wizarding World. I do not wish to offend you." Harry was really worried about souring relations with the Goblins.

"NO! I mean no. Excuse me." Griphook regained his composure, "I mean that is a very generous offer. Very generous indeed. And I would be most honored to be your appointed financial advisor." Griphook bowed.

"Of cause that does not cover your annual bonus and twenty percent of any money you make through stocks and share with the ten million galleons you will be allowed access to." Harry gave him a slight smirk.

Griphook looked like he was able to have a heart attack, "Than… thank you milord."

"Now if you don't mind, I'd like to go my vault now."

"Of course."

After a quick ride, Griphook and Harry stopped in front of a large metal which boar both the Potter and Black family crests. Griphook told Harry that all he had to do was approach the door and place his hand on it. It will recognize him and open.

Harry did as instructed and the doors opened before him. He entered the vault, it was huge, almost as big as the Great Hall at Hogwarts. It was filled with mountains of gold, silver, bronze and precious stones with many trunks lying around.

"This Harry is just the Potter vault, the Black vault is down that passage way on the left and through that passage way on the left are way all your non-monetary valuables are kept, like books, scrolls, deeds and some family heirlooms and weapons."

"Let's go to the Black family vault." It was the same as the Potter vault but it had a potions lab with some of the rarest potions ingredients known.

"Griphook, I will need to make some rather large purchases, is there anyway I can make them without carrying tons of gold around?"

"Yes we've recently start a credit card system similar to that of the muggles and it has been very well received. Would you like me to get you one?"

"Yes and can you get it something with I can carry large amounts of gold with me. It's probably good to still carry some gold with me. Oh and can you get me a thousand pounds in nothing bigger than hundred pound bills."

"Of course Harry." Griphook made some quick notes on a piece of parchment which he rolled up and vanished. In less than three second a pouch appeared in its place. "Here you go Harry."

"That was quick."

"Gringotts prides itself on quick and excellent service if you're in our good books of course." Griphook gave a toothy smile.

Harry opened the pouch and removed the credit card and pounds, placing them in his wallet. Harry poured as many galleons as it would with was quite a sum as it was expanded inside and charmed to be feather-light. He strapped it to his belt and proceeded to leave the vault.

---- Diagon Alley ----

First stop, books, lots and lots of books. Well maybe not first stop, he needed one of those trunks like the fake Moody had in Fourth year. He walked into a shop advertising a vast array of trunks. He looked at everything, till he found one that had everything he wanted.

It was the size of his regular school trunk but could be shrunk down to the size if a match box with the right password and his magical signature. It had four metal locks which would open only to him and anyone else he gave permission to. It had five rooms in it, a master bedroom with a bathroom and lots of book shelves, a guestroom with bathroom, a kitchen, a hall and an empty room which he intended to turn into a gym, workout room and potions lab.

He ordered extra wards and charms to be placed on it when he was inside and wanted to use it as a house outdoors.

It set him back more than ten thousand galleons but it was worth it. He could use it as a house it he was ever on the run and needed to hide out somewhere.

Now for the books, anything to help him. To Flourish and Blotts, inside he began stacking books up on the counter in front of the clerk. He got books on animagus, metamorphatas, DADA, advance dueling, charms and transfiguration, magical theory, rune magic, and ancient magic. And most importantly Occlumency and Legilimency, he will not allow what happened last year to repeat itself again. He bought over thirty books, stacked them inside his trunk.

Outside he started going over what else he would need, when he saw something interesting, Knockturn Alley. He put a hand on a dagger, and went through into the darker part of the magical shopping center.

The first shop he stopped at was the very same one he landed in when he first came to Knockturn Alley. He entered the dark and dusty shop and walked towards the counter where he found Mr Borgin.

"I'm looking some of your rarer title of books, the ones you do not display."

"Bugger off. I have no such books."

"That is not what I saw when Mr Malfoy and his son dropped by but of course this might help persuade you." Harry placed a few dozen galleons on the counter.

Mr Borgin's eyes lit-up, "Right this way Mr…?" Taking in the man's appearance till is eyes fall on an all too familiar scar.

"Har… Harry Potter."

"That is Lord Potter-Black to you." He raised his left hand showing his family rings. "And if you value your life you will forget that I was ever here." Harry warned as he placed a few more galleons on the counter.

Mr Borgin took the galleons and bowed, "As you wish my Lord."

Harry followed Mr Borgin to the back of his shop and found lots of books on the dark arts and rituals. Harry bought nearly every book Mr Borgin had, much to the latter's delight.

"Do you know how the Ministry tracks underage magic and where I can get another wand?"

"The Ministry uses two methods. One is that wards are placed around homes with magical children in them and another will be the tracking charms that are placed on all legally sold wands but all these are useless if nobody monitors them. As for another wand I can point you in the right direction later."

"Can you remove the tracking charms?"

"The place where you can get your new wand can do that for you my Lord."

"Good if this is all you have in stock when it comes to books then I will take those directions now."

Harry paid for his books and followed the directions towards the Wands shop but another shop caught his eye. A Magical Pets shop. He's sure Hedwig won't mind. He walked in and looked around till he came to the area filled with different snakes.

He looked around till he saw a snake that caught his eye. It looked like a large python but no way near as big as Nagini.

"Can I help you." A young beautiful and pale skinned woman approached him, she seemed quite out of place considering all the old and/or dirty hags he saw as he walked along the alley.

"Yes this snake caught my eye."

"Ah. The Cobrathon. A very fine and deadly species. It was created by a dark wizard who tried to combine a King Cobra and a Python and you have what you see before you. It can inject venom into its victims, constrict them or spit venom at them but I will not get your hopes up. Not only are they very expensive but that are very picky about who gets to be their master."

"We'll see about that." Harry walked up to the cage and tapped the glass till the snake woke up and spread its hood, clearly annoyed at being woken up.

"_What is your name?" _Harry hissed at the snake.

The snake seemed quite surprise, "_Desusss_."

"_Well Desuss I am in need of another familiar. Are you willing to come with me?"_

"_Yesss. I would like that, Masster."_

Harry opened the cage and placed his arm inside which Desus coiled around and moved across his shoulder and rested its head on Harry's shoulder, the rest of his body.

"You're a parselmouth," the woman was shocked.

"Yes and he's agreed to be my familiar. How much do I owe you?"

"A thousand galle… galleons sir." The woman sounded scared.

"Very well." Harry took out the money from his pouch and gave it to the woman. "If you have any more interesting snakes or animals please do let me know and the extra is for your silence."

"Wait! How do I contact you?"

"Send a letter to Griphook at Gringotts, tell him you have a letter for Lord Potter-Black." Harry turned to leave the shop.

"Lord Potter-Black… Harry Potter!!!"

Harry found the wand shop and stepped in, he found an elderly man asleep with his feet on the counter. Harry cleared his throat loudly and the man woke up.

"How may I help you?"

"I was told by a business associate of yours that you can help me made a new wand and remove the Ministry tracking charms on my current wand." Harry told him as he placed a few galleons on the counter.

The man pocketed the galleons and asked Harry to follow him to a back room.

---- - ----

Harry stepped out of Knockturn Ally if you looked closely you would see no contacts, yet he saw perfectly.

He saw someone sitting at an outside café all alone, though he didn't know why. He knew it was Tonks, even if she looked like McGonagall's little sister. She must have been sent to watch for him. He put on his sunglasses and sat down across from her.

"Hey Tonks." He said and ordered a drink.

She looked him over, "Do I know you?"

He laughed, and grinned. "You and every other wizard in Great Britain."

He pulled off his sunglasses, pointing to his scar. She looked shocked and reached over and hugged him. He was rather surprised, but hugged her back. He looked at her confused when she let go.

She blushed, and morphed into something more recognizable as her. "I'm sorry Harry, but I have barely talked to anyone outside the Order for a month." At this Harry's confused look grew.

"Why's that?" he asked.

"Well, they think I'll cause trouble being on a mission, and don't want me in the Ministry right now, with the upheaval and all."

He nodded, understanding dawning on him, he had seen it in the Daily Prophet, every few days someone would try to make everyone else do something worthwhile, while awaiting a new Minister of Magic, he got a every other day subscription.

"Well, that sucks, but Dumbledore is a moron, so I can see that happening. You can hang around with me you know, just volunteer for my guard. I would love to have someone other than the muggles I'm with." He told her.

"Hmmm…. Sounds good to me. Right now is one of the few times they let me out," she paused looking him over, "Lets go do something!"

She stood, pulling him by the hand, off in the direction of a part of Daigon Ally he had never been to. Filled with pubs, inns, bars, and…well if he wasn't mistaken, they had wizarding clubs.

Her fingers had intertwined with his during the journey; he disengaged his hand, looking into her apologetic eyes. He paid no heed to the look and put his arm around her waist, and started off towards the club he had seen, she leaned in on his shoulder.

Outside the club he stopped. He put a hand under her chin, bringing her head up to look her in the eyes. He searched them for deceit, but found nothing but longing, and hunger, he smiled, lent down and pulled her lips to his. He loved the way she would move her tongue against his. He pulled up and again looked into her eyes, this would become his favorite activity.

TBC

A/N  
Thanks for reading and do check out my other stories.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N:  
Original story by darknessallover, 'Harry Potter, Black Phoenix'. Rewritten with permission and given ownership of this story. Thanks.

Regrading Dumbledore, following the original concept it's more of grey-dark grey Dumbledore (didn't go that far). I won't say more till later chapters. I might go dark/evil but lets leave that open for now.

FYI: I haven't read Half-Blood Prince (started last week) let alone Deathly Hallows but I do know the details from my friends. I wait for the paperback edition, I have a thing for standardization so usually takes a year before I can buy the book. Might borrow it though. I will be adding some of the imformation from them in my other stories but for this story, it's still up in the air.

---- Number 4, Privet Drive ----

Harry woke up the next morning and found that he could not move because something or rather someone was laying on top on him, a very naked someone. He moved his blanket and found a mop of bubblegum pink hair. Tonks.

Everything that happened yesterday night at the club started to come back to him. At the club they had danced until late at night, he would often stop to lock her lips in his, always looking at her to see her wanting more.

They had gotten a little drunk and things started to get hot between the two of them and they ended up taking a taxi back to Harry's house and proceeded to have the wildest sex either of them ever had.

Now Harry was no virgin last night, he'd already gotten some experience under him (quite literally too) thanks to some of the girls in the gangs. But Tonks was by far the best he's ever had.

Tonks started to stir, "Ooh… my head." She looked up and looked Harry in the eye. "Morning Harry. It was great last night."

Harry just smiled. Tonks went silent and started to trace little circles on his chest with her index finger. She was obviously nervous and wanted to say something so Harry waited.

"Harry I have something to tell you… I've… I've always liked you… since I first read about you…"

"So you fell in love with The-Boy-Who-Lived." He tried to control the bitterness and hurt in his voice as best he could.

"NO!" Tonks shot up, giving Harry a nice view of her bare chest but he forced himself to look into her worried eyes as she continued, "Yes I had a crush on you like most girls who imagined you as their prince charming or knight in shining armor but as we spent time together at Sirius' home and I got to know you better. I saw that you were more than just The-Boy-Who-Lived, you're Harry Potter, a kind, caring, loyal and sweet guy with the weight of the world on his shoulders who wants nothing more than to be loved and have a normal life."

Tonks paused to take a couple of short breaths so he took this time to think about this. If he was really honest with himself, he'd admit that he did kinda had quite the crush on Tonks and it had gotten stronger and deeper as he spent more time with her but was he in love with her? Yes he cared about her but did he Love her?

"The thing is Harry… the thing is…" Tonks couldn't like him in the eye and looked down. "The thing is… I think I'm in love with you Harry."

Harry was shocked. Will wonders never cease? After everything that happened yesterday and now this. His mind was working overtime. Then he felt something wet fall on his abs.

He looked up, Tonks was crying.

"OF COURSE SHE'S CRYING YOU MORON!!!" A voice in his head yelled at him. "Here she is lying over you naked and pretty much confessed that she's in love with you and poured her heart out to you and you're just lying there. WHAT IS SHE TO THINK!?!"

"Tonks." He turned her head to face him and wiped her tears away. "I do care about you. It's just that I don't know what it's like to be in love. I…" He tried to find the right words. "I do want to be with you Tonks but I don't think that will be a good idea. Everyone I care about always ends up getting hurt or killed. I don't want that to happen to you Tonks."

"Sniff… Harry I want to be with you no matter what. I do love you Harry. I know you don't know what it's like to be in love but please give us a chance."

Harry took a deep breath and thought for a moment, "Alright Tonks. But if things get bad promise me that you will run."

"Harry I…"

"Promise me. I'd die if anything were to happen to you."

"I promise." Though she honestly doubted she could keep that promise if the time came.

Harry pulled her into a deep kiss. "Thank you."

"I have to leave now. The Order is expecting me back at headquarters." She leaned over and gave him a lingering kiss, "Bye." She apparated away.

Harry laid back on his bed and closed his eyes, a small smile gracing his face.

---- - ----

Harry woke up from a pleasant night's rest to feel the familiar weight and warmth next to him. This was how he normally awoke nowadays. It's been three weeks since Tonks and him went out and a couple of days later he had assigned her as his guard.

She had been let out of Grimmauld place so that she could keep watch on him from afar but no one knew that she was there spending every night with him in his room.

He'll never forget the morning after their first night together, that was when he discovered something. He wasn't alone. Someone cared for him.

They had started training, the day she was assigned as his guard. It seemed that someone out there was afraid of his wrath and had released the restrictions on him. At least that was what had been said and not said in the letter sent to him. Tonks had told him the truth; it was because they didn't have enough people to overlook the wards alerting them to underage magic.

The first thing they did was change his room, silencing charms, enlargement charms, wards against any sort of magic detectors. Tonks had taught him to apparate, dueling, basic healing, Auror magic and tactics as well as object enchantment and Occlumency.

That bastard Snape didn't even give him the foundation he need to master Occlumency but with Tonks guiding him and the book he soon became quite proficient at it and could withstand the Legilimens spell that Snape used on him last time.

In return Harry taught Tonks martial arts, the use of firearms, sword and knife fighting as well as street and some military tactics he'd picked up here and there as well as how to ride a motorcycle, his motorcycle.

They both learnt the Dark Arts and Legilimency together, believing that if you had them you might as well use them besides, not like the Death Eaters were going to throw Jelly Legs jinxes at them and they have become quite good at them.

He got up, today would be interesting, and they were planning on doing a few things to mess with Dumbledore's mind. He went to shower and got ready for today. He checked his looks out in the mirror, Tonks had convinced him to get pink highlights in his hair.

When he was out he went into his bedroom to see Tonks sitting cross-legged on his bed, pouting.

"Why didn't you wake me? You know I don't like to shower alone." She whined.

He knew she was playing around, she did that a lot. "I couldn't bear to wake you darling, seeing you sleep so peacefully."

She looked up again changing her appearance while doing so. Harry shivered.

"Can you not do that? It is so creepy to be talking to someone than have them change." He complained.

She just changed again. She did this a few more times before going back to how she really was. Dark hair with pink highlights, round face, and curvy build.

"So what are we planning to do today?" she asked.

"Well I have a few mind games to play with the Old Man. Maybe visit some old friends, a little shopping." Shopping had quickly become one of his favorite things to do. Well, that was to be expected from a person who had been deprived all his life, then had a pile of gold dropped in his lap.

When they were both ready to go, armed and ready. They closed down everything in his room. They took down all the charms, took all of his and her things, and packed them and shrunk them. What was left, was a bare room, a desk, a bed, and a nightstand, along with all of Dudley's stuff.

They went downstairs, they walked into the kitchen, where his 'family' was. They had never seen Tonks so they were obviously upset seeing a person come downstairs that they had never seen.

"Where are you going now freak, and who is this?" He gestured at the woman next to Harry.

"This, Vernon, is my girlfriend, Dora." He put his arm around the indicated woman.

His uncle opened his mouth and closed it a few times. "How did she get in here? How is she here? And where are you going, I say again?" he uncle was getting annoyed.

"Now, now, Vernon. She has been staying with me the past few days." He paused to let this sink in. His uncle looked scandalized. "She has been coming in and out under invisibility. And oh yeah, I'm leaving. Moving out. If anyone asks tell them 'look closer to home'. So bye Vernon. It's been horrible, don't be surprised if I come back and kill you."

He left his family cowering in terror. He laughed at them. Stupid muggles. His uncle would probably kill himself out of paranoia. This caused him to laugh even harder.

Outside Tonks turned to him, "You're horrible you know that don't you?" he just smiled.

"But you still love me." He said tauntingly.

He leaned in and kissed her. He had come to realize shortly after she became his guard and lots of soul searching that he really was in love with the young woman beside him.

"Hey do you want to take the bike to London, or apparate?" she looked at the bike considering, "Let's take it!" she said finally jumping on and turning it on.

He sighed, he barely got to drive himself anymore, she always wanted to. They drove past Mrs. Figg's house on purpose; she was outside in her garden. Harry waved as they went by.

She looked a little stunned at this, he always avoided her part of the neighborhood, and so she had never seen the bike. Tonks chose that moment to speed up, almost to the bikes limit.

---- Diagon Alley – Gringotts ----

They walked up the steps of Gringotts. Inside they went straight to the head office. That was where Harry always did his business, seeing as he was the head of two verywealthy families.

Inside Goldtooth greeted him. "Hello, Harry what do you need from us?" he said straight to the point.

"Hello Goldtooth. I need to evict some residents of two of my current properties. Number 12 Grimmauld place in London and Number 6 Mountain View Drive in Hogsmeade." He told the Goblin, who nodded, and snapped his fingers.

Two goblins appeared in his office, he gave them orders in gobbledygook they then disappeared. "It will be done Harry. Is there anything else you would like?"

Harry nodded to the goblin, "Yes is it possible for you to send someone to check the wards and place new ones if necessary at both residences as well as the home of the Grangers?"

"Yes that can be done as well. I will have the report sent to you as soon as possible."

"Thank you. Now if there is nothing else. Nymph wants to make a withdrawal from her vault." Tonks glared at him for using her pet name in public.

"Of course Harry."

After getting some gold from Tonks' vault they left to get something to eat for lunch. They discussed their plans for today, with their eviction of Grimmauld that left some people out in the open for a while; they would visit the Weasleys. Next stop the Burrow.

---- The Burrow ----

It was absolute chaos; a goblin had showed up at Grimmauld and had forced them to leave, so the whole Order of The Phoenix was there. Albus was sitting at the kitchen table fingers on his temples, eyes closed.

Mrs. Weasley was in the kitchen making dinner for all of the Order members and the children there. Ron and Hermione had disappeared a while ago, to god knows where. The twins were at their shop, making money. And all the other members of the Order were in the living room discussing what had happened.

"Why were we evicted? Only the owner of a place can evict anybody, and I thought Dumbledore had owned it?" Bill said to everybody else.

Kingley answered him being closer to the top, "No, Dumbledore does not own it. When Sirius died, his Will left it to somebody. Nobody knows who because he left the Will with Gringotts, to be carried out."

This was news to most; they had not known Sirius had left a will. "But I thought that the place was in a Fidelus charm?" said Charlie, the others nodded in agreement.

Kingsley sighed. "When it came under new ownership the charm was automatically dissipated so that the owner or someone under his orders could come in. Dumbledore has been trying to find the new owner but Gringotts has been uncooperative." He finished. They all looked downcast wondering what the next move was.

---- A mile outside of The Burrow ----

A motorcycle roared down a dirt road. Harry was driving it this time with Tonks on back. They found the long road leading to the Burrow; up at the house they all heard the roar and went outside to welcome the visitor.

When they pulled up, all of the people had wands out, looking at the helmeted people in muggle cloths.

"Put your wands down before you poke someone's eye out." Harry said annoyed at them. He took off his helmet, looking at them all.

Half of the people had lowered their wands in surprise, the inexperienced ones; the others just looked shell shocked.

"You know, if I were a Death Eater in disguise I could have killed you all by now, you know? You really must keep your wands ready at all time." The idiots raised their wands. He sighed, "Does nobody here recognize me?" he looked questionably,

Dumbledore was first, his eyes widened, and his wand dropped.

Mad-eye took the next step "Veratus!"If the spell had hit it would have shown a person under polyjuice.

Harry would have none of it, he pulled out his old wand, "Talio." The spell was reflected and hit the ex-Auror; he glowed for a second, and then stopped.

Tonks chose now to take off her helmet, and put her arm around his waist. Again people were shocked beyond belief.

This time Snape recovered first. "What the HELL, are you doing here Ms. Tonks?! You were supposed to guard him, why were you accompanying him?"

Tonks just ignored him and nuzzled Harry's shoulder, her eyes closed.

Snape grew angry with them; he looked Harry in the eyes, "Legilimens!" He shouted. Harry just stood there, Snape had just made it to Harry's mind, when he dropped to his knees, pain searing through his mind, it was locked in Harry's mental trap.

Harry smiled, and let go. Snape trembled, and shakily stood. "Well, well, well, it seems the Death Eater is still weak. Didn't expect that, did you? Lets try this my way." He smiled, and stared at Snape, "Legilimens" Harry whispered.

Snape who was unprepared for Harry's mental assault, fell to his knees, reliving his past at Hogwarts, some very fast, some scenes pausing all caused him immense humiliation.

When it ended Snape was shaking in rage. He stood pointing his wand at Harry, "Dammit Potter, you cannot do that! Telum!" a small spiked bit of magic shot out.

Harry smirked. "Contendo" he whispered, a wave of black energy wiped the bolt of magic from the air, continued on to Snape and knocked him on his ass.

Harry laughed as did Tonks, "Is that the best you can do? I expected more from a Death Eater."

Again Snape stood, he actually growled in anger, which caused the smirk on Harry's lips to widen, "Mursus!" Snape tried again.

Harry yawned, "Retardo." The spell Snape had used slowed to a snails pace. Harry walked around it watching, he poked it and it fizzled out of existence. "Let's quit the games Snape. Excrucio!" he put all his force behind it Snape fell again, twitching. Harry pulled up ending it. "Remember your place from now on Snape. Don't underestimate me."

---- - ----

"Now shall we head inside?" he walked inside Tonks still on his arm. He sat down at the kitchen table; Dumbledore sat across from him, "So I assume you came here for a reason, Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore said Harry shook his head.

"No not really, I knew you wouldn't be at Grimmauld place so I came for a visit."

"Now how would you know we would not be there?"

"Well, simple really, I evicted you."

Dumbledore looked confused "Why would you do such a thing?" Harry smiled.

"I just wanted your attention." He said innocently, Dumbledore saw right through it, this was no plea for attention. This was a power game. "You guys can go back now if you want."

"That's ok, I believe we can go somewhere else." He certainly wasn't going to be manipulated by a sixteen year old.

"Don't bullshit me Dumbledore, you can't go anywhere but there, it is the safest place you have. I know I've checked all the wards."

Dumbledore sighed, the boy was winning and he didn't like it, he consented "Yes you're right, we will go back." With that Dumbledore stood and took the rest of the of the Order members, except the Weasleys and Hermione.

"Well, the manipulator doesn't like to be manipulated." Harry mused, to the rest of them, who were still in shock at the quick events.

It was Hermione who spoke first, speaking the minds of all of them. "What is going on, here?"

Harry smirked. "You have just witnessed me put Snape and Dumbledore in their places."

They were still confused.

"Why did Snape attack you, and how come I have never even heard of those curses?" Hermione queried.

"Snape attacked me because I made him relive his most embarrassing events in his life and I viewed them. The reason why you haven't heard of those curses is because is because they are classified Dark Arts."

All of them gasped, Harry Potter using the Dark Arts? Impossible. Hermione shook her head that was to be dealt with later.

"So what's up with Tonks?" she asked indicating Tonks who was leaning on Harry's shoulder still, watching with amusement the proceedings. In response, Harry turned his head and kissed her, passionately. When he let go they resumed their positions. The Weasleys and Hermione all just stared at them. This was truly getting annoying.

"What have you never seen a kiss before?" Tonks asked. Mrs. Weasley exploded.

"NYMPHADORA TONKS, YOU ARE SEVEN YEARS OLDER THAN HIM!" she screamed at the top of her voice.

Harry and Tonks looked at each other, nonplussed, then burst out laughing. This caused her to get even madder.

"This is not funny!" she said, "You are far too old for him."

"Mrs. Weasley if we are talking about experience than I am older than you are." Harry said evenly. She looked flabbergasted at his indirect confession.

He stood "Well I must be leaving I have more business to do today." Ron had had enough. He was insanely jealous at the moment.

"Oh really what business do you have today, oh Lord." He mock bowed, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Harry turned, a look of concentration on his face, "Yes I like that title, you may use it if you want." He wanted Ron mad, he could set him straight as well, and to add to it he waved his hand dismissively at him. It worked. Ron pulled his wand.

"You may think you're good Potter, but I've been trained by the Order this summer, I'll beat you in my sleep." He smirked, somehow forgetting that Harry had just crippled Snape.

"Ron don't do this, you'll get hurt." Hermione begged him. He snapped at her too.

"What, are you jealous too, because I'm a better dueler than you?" he sneered; she looked hurt and ran crying from the room.

"Let's go outside so you don't hurt the house when you miss." Harry said, Ron sneered and followed Harry out the door.

All the male Weasleys followed them while Ginny and Mrs. Weasley went to comfort Hermione.

Outside they found a large piece of open space, "Well, let's go then show me what your precious Order taught you." Harry said, "Until unconsciousness or the other gives up or is unable to continue." He stated. Ron nodded.

"Tarentantagula!" Ron shouted.

Harry laughed at the uselessness of the spell, the jelly-legs jinx. Harry held out his bare hand, fingers spread wide, the curse struck, and dissipated. Harry laughed.

"Do not tell me that is the best you can do. Accio Desus." A large snake flew from the saddle bag on the Motorcycle, it landed in front of him, _"Circle around, be prepared and do not let the others interfere." _He hissed and the snake did as instructed.

The others tried to remove the snake from the fight only to have it move into a striking position, its hood spread and sprayed a line of venom in front of them. Desus hissed at them warning them not to interfere.

Ron growled. "Expelliarmus!!" he shouted.

The spell hit the shield Harry put up and bounced back and hit him, throwing him to the ground his wand hitting him in the face. Harry doubled over in laughter he stood.

"Com'on Ron give it up. If that is the best you can do you have no chance of beating me." He was trying his best to control his laughter.

Ron got even angrier, "Stupefy!"

Harry decided to end this and in a very painful way. He kept his wand and ran forward, dodging the spell, drawing his short staffs from his back. He swung his left one, hitting his right wrist causing Ron to scream in pain, dropping his wand. Harry was pretty sure he broke it too.

In quick rapid succession, Harry rained multiple strikes to his right thigh, side and arm before moving in to his left side and repeated the series of strikes.

Harry kicked the side of his lower right leg so hard that he snapped Ron's leg. Ron was in absolute pain. But soon he was overcome by unconsciousness. Harry had struck Ron hard across the face, knocking him out. He was pretty sure he knocked out a couple of teeth too.

He walked to Tonks, took her hand and walked to the bike, then he turned back

"See you at Hogwarts, Accio Desus." His snake came back and he slid Desus into his bag.

---- - ----

They stopped in front of a small single story house and the two walked down the lane hand in hand. They had found this small house in the Newspapers and decided to buy it to give them some privacy as there were sure that eventually Dumbledore will or probably already know the different properties owned by the Potters and Blacks.

Inside it was bare, they set about refurnishing it. It was done in an hour; they had bought or transfigured anything they needed. Here they could stay until school started.

They lay down on the king sized bed, reading a book each. Harry, an ancient rune book, doodling them out on a sketchpad. Tonks, a book on staffs. Harry had been trying to find out how the ancients had used runes for magic for weeks, failing everything he tried, it just didn't seem possible.

He looked at the pad, well, glared at it. He put a finger to a rune, circling it, tracing it, begging it to release its secrets. He was frustrated, finger still on the rune he intended to burn it, but instead the rune absorbed his magic. He jumped at what happened.

Tonks looked over, he yelled, "I've got it, goddammit I've found it!"

He put his finger to it again, pouring his magic into it. It glowed a bright red. He touched it and he was instantly pushed upwards, floating in the air. He laughed manically. He turned and looked at the rune, it was the rune of air. He laughed and touched it again, canceling the affect. He pulled Tonks into a kiss.

"I'VE GOT IT!" He yelled triumphant.

TBC

A/N:  
This was a a sticking point for some people for the original regrading the fight with Snape. The reason Snape lost was because he underestimated Harry. Snape has no respect for Harry and views him as an inept dueler (good at school not that Snape cares) and especially Occlumency and Legilimency.

Thanks for reading and the support. Please review.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N:  
Original story by darknessallover, 'Harry Potter, Black Phoenix'. Rewritten with permission and given ownership of this story. Thanks.

There was a suggestion about this being HarryXTonksXHermione, that was not in the original story and the thought hasn't crossed my mind till now but right now I would have to say no. I'll think about it, what do you think? Got another story coming up that's HxHrxT.

Harry dealing with Dumbledore will not take place so soon. At least another 4-5 chapters. This includes who got what from Dumbledore (Harry's vault) I'll tell you more in later chapters.

---- King's Cross Station ----

Harry looked around the King's Cross station, he wondered how many more times he will be here, if he isn't killed some day, he will probably not want to go back. The people around him gave him strange looks and a wide berth.

He was dressed in his usual black gear with his weapons hidden under them. The jacket was new and had the combine emblem of his gangs on the back, they had become larger and stronger during the summer, and as a parting gift to Harry had the jacket which went down to his knees, custom made with a red raven with three slashes across it, ironically the gang members called it the Ravenclaw symbol.

People seemed to think he was a loaded bomb, which of course he could well be. He walked down to the terminal to the barrier between platform 9 and 10, and leaned up against it. When he reappeared on the other side, he found the edge of a large crowd, parents and children milled about talking and saying goodbyes.

Immediately a group of people came up to him, led by none other than Ron. He had a look of such smugness Harry wanted to slap him in the face. Behind him were Hermione, Luna, Ginny, and a few other members of the DA.

The thought of changing their name and training them like he did last year crossed his mind but he doubted that they wanted anything to do with him and there was no way in Hell he was going to be part of a group calling itself Dumbledore's Army.

Ron stalked up to him, right into his face, "So His Lordship has decided to grace us with his presence then?" He said with sarcasm dripping from his mouth.

"Yes I have, haven't I?" Ron fumed and took the bait. Hook, line, and sinker, Harry thought. Ron swung, and hit air.

"Having trouble Ron?" Harry taunted, he was having far too much fun to stop.

"Please stop, Ron, you'll get hurt again." Hermione pleaded with him, but he didn't hear a word, his eyes were glazed over in fury.

He pulled his wand, pointed and started to mouth a curse. But didn't have the chance, the next second he had his arm behind his back and his wand on the ground.

"Ron stop you're foolishness, you couldn't win if there were ten of you. You're too weak." Ron was just enraged even more by this and struggled hard against Harry's grip. Harry lifted his arm up higher, earning a cry of pain from Ron. "Stop Ron, before something nasty happens."

Ron gave a last hard struggle and almost broke Harry's grip, Harry then tightened his grip and wrenched as hard he could upwards. He was rewarded with an earsplitting crack, and a scream.

Harry released him and he dropped like a stone, "Can't even take a little pain." Harry stated in disappointment.

Hermione stood there looking aghast; Ginny rushed to his side soothing him, the others from the group backed up a little, the crowd that had gathered to watch the confrontation dispersed upon Harry's glare.

He pulled out one of his daggers and unconsciously started tossing it up in the air and catching it on the way down. An annoying habit that he had picked up, annoying because when he was startled while tossing he would miss the knife and often take it in the hand, which was quite painful. People were backing away staring at him as though he had lost his mind.

So of course, while he was walking to the train, knife in the air, came, "HARRY JAMES POTTER! WHAT IN THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!"

The knife came down and went right through the back of his hand, being unprepared he gasped in pain.

Hermione came running up to him, "Oh my god, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to… Oh my god, oh my god!"

Harry looked calmly up at her, and pulled the knife slowly out from his hand, wiped it on pants. He pulled off his jacket, and revealed numerous runic tattoos on his arms, around his existing tattoos. He had them done the day after he figured out how to make the runes work and were activated with his magic.

He pulled up the sleeve of his shirt and touched a rune and touched the cut. The muscle repaired itself, followed by the skin working its way up to the surface, He winced feeling the skin mesh together.

Harry swung the jacket on his shoulders, and turned to Hermione. "What were you saying?"

She just stared at Harry, wondering who this was, the Harry she knew could never, and wouldn't have know how to do anything that happened here. She voiced her opinion

"Who are you?" She asked, but it looked like she was asking herself rather than Harry.

"I was once called Harry Potter, now I am the Black Phoenix. The one you knew is gone and in his place is a more powerful, wiser, and stronger person. For that is what I was called upon to do, be the person that could destroy the destroyer, yet is not dark. But I am neither. Think this over, and then tell me. What do you yearn for most in this world?"

He gave her that to think about, then continued on to the train, a pathway was made for him, he smiled. At the entrance of the train was two Aurors. He brushed past them and walked to a compartment. He settled in waiting for the barrage of people that he knew would come.

---- - ----

Ron sat in his compartment with Ginny, Neville, and Hermione. Ron just kept ranting about 'Arrogant pricks' while Ginny pretended to listen, Neville slept, and Hermione didn't even pretend to listen.

She was thinking about what Harry had asked her. Neville was dreaming of someday being a great wizard, a powerful warlock that people respected, not scorned. Ginny was thinking about all the wonderful things that she could be doing with Dean, her boyfriend.

Finally Ron realized that nobody was listening, and rubbed his arm, which was raw from the spell used to heal it. "I can't believe you people didn't help me!" he shouted finally. This startled all the others. Their jaws dropped, finally Ginny stood trembling with rage.

"How dare you Ron," she pointed at him, "You think that we are going to help you hurt our friend? Have you been hit with too many Confundus charms? He is our friend, he used to be yours but I don't think he is going to want to be your friend. You act all high and mighty like you know everything, you don't, and you've proven that twice. Harry with no training this summer beat you with all of your Order training. Now think about that!" She stormed from the compartment searching out her friends.

"I wonder what's wrong with her?" Ron asked stupefied. Hermione snorted.

"Are you really that thick? You just asked her why she didn't help you hurt Harry. You are so blinded by jealousy that you do not see anything but beating Harry. I'll see you later." With that she too stood and walked from the compartment.

"Who does she think she is? Who's side is she on, the little Golden boy or with me her boyfriend?" Ron asked clearly mad about Harry being chosen over him, yet again.

Neville looked indecisive for a moment then followed the other two out the door. Leaving Ron even more confused and angrier than before.

---- - ----

Harry was sitting in his compartment looking through his potions book, when Ginny came in and sat next to him. Harry raised an eyebrow at her but she just continued looking angry and sat in silence next to him.

He looked around the compartment and wondered if he would get in trouble for changing it. He decided that it didn't matter. He raised his wand and touched the wall. Saying the spell, he focused on a richly appointed room with three benches inside all done up in mahogany and silver lining. When he opened his eyes it was as he willed it. Ginny stared at him.

"How? When did you learn to do that?" She managed to get out.

"I picked it up looking through the N.E.W.T. charms book. It's rather hard; I believe it's on par with the Patronus. It will actually change anything, it is a general charm, and you just have to focus on what you want." He explained to her.

"How come you didn't teach it to us last year?" She questioned.

"Because I only learned it last month."

"But don't you have to practice that, you just did it?"

"Well yes, I did practice it quite a bit."

"What? Do you mean the Order trained you as well this summer?" Harry laughed at her.

"No, no, no. I trained by myself. The Order would have been appalled at some of the things I taught myself."

"What do you mean?"

"I trained myself in ancient magic, the dark arts, the more powerful light arts, healing magic, and the forbidden arts. Still am training as a matter of fact." He stated with all calmness.

The door opened up and Neville came inside having heard all of this last part. Ginny seemed lost for words. Neville looked a little dazed.

"You taught yourself all of that?" he said amazed.

"No not all of it, I had a little help from an Auror, then we trained together on the other parts."

"Can you teach me that?" Harry studied him, he had always known Neville was more powerful than he believed himself to be, but Harry did not know if Neville was powerful enough for some of it.

Harry reached for a different rune on his left arm then touched Neville's arm. Slowly a shroud of swirling color appeared, Harry watched it. Finally a deep red blazed into existence from the swirl around Neville. It seemed to mean something to Harry because he nodded and cancelled it with another rune.

"Yes Neville I can help you, you have the right disposition and power, even if you haven't known it. Show me your new wand." Harry knew that Neville had broken his old one, which had been his fathers, so maybe now he wouldn't bumble as much.

Neville pulled an ebony wand, quite a long one at that. "Ebony, 15 ¼ inches, Dragon Heartstring from an Ironbelly." He said proudly.

"Show me a shield." Neville then raised his wand.

"Tego!"he shouted. A translucent blue film went up around Neville then sucked in until it was skin tight.

Harry lifted his wand and fired a powered stunner at it, it broke through and Neville was left unconscious.

When Harry woke him, Neville looked at him in wonder. "How did you?"

"Something I picked up to increase the power of your spells." He said simply. Ginny broke from the silence she had descended into.

"Can you teach me as well?" she asked eagerly. It seemed that she more like Percy with her ambition than it seemed. Again he checked her power and disposition.

"What is that you do?" She asked.

"Well, you don't have the power for some and disposition for others. What I'm doing is checking your aura. It's rune magic, and would probably be considered dark. Back to your aura, you don't have the power for the ancient or powerful light arts, nor the right disposition for the Dark Arts nor the Forbidden. The only thing you would either want or could learn from me would be healing, and you would be better to go to Madam Profrey since I only have knowledge of what they teach the Aurors." He explained.

She looked downcast, at regressed into the silence she had held before. He turned back to his book that he had been reading before Ginny came in.

About this time Hermione walked in. "I was wondering when you would get here." Harry told her, not looking up from his book. "Have you thought about my question?"

She settled into the ornate compartment looking around in wonder, not hearing his question. "How? What?" she sputtered.

Harry sighed and told her about his changes to the compartment. Again he asked, "Did you think about my question?"

She nodded, "Yep, the answer is Knowledge."

"So in truth you yearn for power, no?"

"No. Knowledge, not power."

"Knowledge is the key to power and many do consider knowledge, power."

"Well, like that, I guess I am."

"Then I can help you." Harry told her as he held up a hand, created a ball of pure magic, and started tossing it between his hands.

"Would you?" staring at the magic, pleading in her voice.

He dispersed the magic. "Of course, you're the only one who stood beside me in the darkest of times, when no one else would. You deserve what I can give and so much more." He said sincerely. He smiled softly at her, which she returned, got up and hugged him.

"I'll always be there for you." She told him.

This was when Ron walked in. He just stared at his girlfriend and Harry. "What's going on here?" anger clearly the dominating emotion.

They broke at his voice, Hermione looked worried, but Harry just smiled and kept one arm around her shoulders.

"A little hug among friends, Ron. You know what those are, don't you? Friends, those things YOU don't have?" Harry smirked at him.

Ron growled in anger, and was about to lunge at Harry, when the compartment door opened yet again. Tonks came inside.

"Hey Harry, finished my shift and thought… I… would…" she looked questioningly at the arm around Hermione's shoulders and the angry look on Ron's face.

"Well, let's see." Harry took on a lecturing air, "I was offering to teach Neville and Hermione the things that we have started. Ron came in to see if I could break his arm again. And I…was pissing him off." He said counting off on his fingers.

She looked considering for a moment, then walked over to him, knocking into Ron 'accidentally', she then stood by Harry's side where he put his other arm around her. Ron glowered. Ginny walked up behind Harry and put her arms around his neck, trailing her hands across his chest. Ron looked ready to kill. Neville who had sat quietly till this stood and stood behind Hermione, showing his support for Harry. Ron pulled his wand. In less than two seconds four wands were trained on him. Harry didn't pull his it wasn't needed.

"Fine everybody is going to turn on me I see. Well I guess I'll be leaving." Ron was shaking in fury yet again. Harry was sure he would pop a blood vessel at this rate. Ron walked from the compartment heading to find some others who would accept him.

"Hey Tonks. Why are you here?" Hermione asked as she sat down with Neville across Harry and Ginny.

"I'm going to be at Hogwarts, guarding the grounds and was helping to guard the train. My shift was over so I wanted to come and spend it with Harry not the other Aurors."

The door opened again and Luna walked in. "Hello Harry. Mind if I join you?" she asked in her usual dreamily voice.

"Sure Luna. How was your summer?"

"It was fine. Though we weren't able to find any Crumpled-horn Snorloks."

Harry smiled when he heard Hermione snort while trying to hide behind her book.

"Ginny do you mind?" Tonks asked nicely.

"Oh. Sure." Ginny moved away from Harry making space for Tonks who sat down and nuzzled Harry's shoulder she was leaning on.

Luna looked at the couple slightly confused.

"Long story." Luna sat down with Hermione and Neville.

Harry started to retell his story of what he found out and what he's been doing during the summer. Him finding a job, of course he did not tell them what he did. His self-studies and training while leaving out details especially on the Dark and Forbidden Arts to his training in Martial Arts.

He even told them how Tonks and him got together while leaving out the part where they got pissed drunk and ended up in bed together. As well as all the other times they slept together, he'll tell them eventually just not now.

"Also Ron was on the mark when he called me his Lordship." He raised his left hand revealing his family rings.

"Those are the signet rings!" Neville exclaimed.

"Very good Neville. Glad to see the future Head of the House of Longbottom knows what he's looking at. Yes, as of mid summer I am now the Head of the Noble Houses of Potter and Black. I trust you will keep quiet about this till I decide to reveal this tidbit."

Everyone nodded in agreement. The rest of the journey was spent catching up and Hermione filling everyone in about what little she knew about the Order and what Ron and her were told.

TBC

A/N:  
I have not been able to use the computer at the office to type up more of my stories and I'm just publishing what I've saved as a buffer. But at this rate I'll publish everything I've saved and the stories will get stuck like some like 2 of the others already are. Though I hope not.

Thanks for reading and the support. Please review.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N:  
Original story by darknessallover, 'Harry Potter, Black Phoenix'. Rewritten with permission and given ownership of this story. Thanks.

Regrading Harry's piercings and is status as a fighter. First and foremost Harry is not a professional fighter like in the UFC nor does he intend to get into fist/street fights on a regular basis. He and the rest of his friends/gang would handle 'business' like most other gangs drive-bys and hit-and-runs, the only time they would go hand-to-hand if they are unarmed, beating down one of their own for whatever reason or if they want to teach a few people a lesson or an all out skirmish which in real life is quite rare. At least that is what it said about a couple of gangs in the US in a documentary, the rest would be from TV but that is probably exaggerated but then again this is fiction.

I have heard first-hand from a few friends involved in Secret Societies/gangs involved in these kinds of skirmishes using hands, knives and glass bottles amongst others and some of them do have piercings. Ear, face, lip and nipples. Can you imagine the last one being ripped off? Ouch.

Another reason Harry has piercings is because the Dursleys really did not like the way they made him look. Will there be consequences for wearing the piercings? Maybe. Or will they be an advantage somehow? Well stay tuned to find out.

As for the long hair thing, that is pretty subjective cos unless you are bald or have a No.1/Recruit haircut most people would have enough hair to grab a hold of. I've seen some UFC fighters who definately have enough hair to grab but I think that's illegal.

---- - ----

Harry jumped from the train to the ground of Hogsmeade station. News at Hogwarts always traveled fast, but this seemed to be a record. Every person jammed in around him trying to see for themselves whether all the rumors were true. Some were fact based like his tattoos and piercings, but then there were others like that he had the dark mark on his forehead, and had a dragon for a pet.

Finally after nearly being trampled on and almost having his robes torn from him for the second time, he pulled his old wand and fired a bolt of lightening into the air, the sound was deafening, the light, blinding. The smell of burnt permeated the air. People's hair was standing on end.

Then people wanted nothing more to do with him, within a minute he was almost completely deserted. What was left were his friends, some DA members and now a couple of Aurors decided that it was time to show up.

The Aurors walked up to him, "Mr. Potter what was that spell you used?" he asked, sounding very accusatory, in his mind, anything that powerful must be dark. Harry looked into his mind reading the thoughts that were whirling around, like being presented with a bonus for catching a dark wizard, to how he was going to bring Harry in.

Harry sneered. "It wasn't a spell, nitwit."

"Of course it was a spell, lightening doesn't shoot from the ground!"

"You seem confused, it was actually pure magic, formed into a lightening bolt through my wand." He held his wand up and twirled it around in the Aurors face. He shoved the Auror away and walked forward. Hermione soon ran to his side breathless with more questions than seemed possible.

"What do you mean pure magic? Why a lightening bolt? Where did you learn it? Is it really dark magic? I wouldn't think it was it seems more like light magic to me. What did you mean through your wand?" she said all in one breath just as the others caught up with Dean and Seamus joining the group.

Harry stared at her in amazement for a moment, shook his head amusedly and explained, "When you release pure magic it usually comes out in an aura around you, everyone does it to an extent, but when you really push it out it can be seen by all. When you release it through a focus, it is changed into the elemental of your choice that is if you've mastered any elements if not it comes out as a bust of light or energy."

"Huh? Where did you learn it?"

"Well your assumption was correct, it is old light magic, elemental magic to be exact. It's kind of a forgotten act. I'll teach you later maybe."

She seemed to accept that, and fell silent. The others having heard this too seemed cheerful about maybe being taught this forgotten art.

"But wouldn't that still be considered a spell?" Neville asked.

"Not really. Elementant spells are more complex, that was just a bust of pure magic in the form of lightening as I said before."

The crowd all but ran from him when they walked up the steps, he could get used to this. Draco Malfoy stood at the tops of the steps sneer firmly in place. Harry walked up to him, wand out, made a slightly pentagonal shape and jabbed through the center strait at Malfoy's head. Malfoy's eyes went blank, and the sneer fell from his face, he seemed asleep, but awake all at the same time.

Harry lowered his wand till it was pointing at the ground at Malfoy's feet, Malfoy fell to his knees, crawled forward, and kissed the hem of Harry's robes, many older Slytherins gasped, several 7th year Ravenclaws shrieked, and a solitary 6th year Hufferpuff fainted.

Others just looked on either amused or confused. Smiling evilly Harry made a sharp cutting motion with his wand, followed by Malfoy shaking his head, opening his eyes saw Harry and remembered what he had just done. Fear filled his entire being and he scrambled backwards into the crowd of Slytherins that had known what had transpired, who took him up and spirited him away to the dungeons.

He continued up the steps to the school, again the crowd parted to let him through. Inside, Peeves was throwing paint on the walls and floors, bright multi-colored fluorescent paint. Upon seeing Harry and the few that was with them he gave an excited squeal and took aim at Harry.

"Oh it's Potty wee Potter! What joy is mine to play with Potter the mad hatter!"

"Hey Peeves. Did you know that you could dispel a poltergeist? It's a rather difficult ritual but I think it would be worth it, don't you?" the sprit turned tail and zoomed off a fast as he could. Neville looked thoughtful.

"Can you really dispel a poltergeist through a ritual?" he asked.

"No, not really, the closest thing would be to absorb his essence, a rather tedious and extremely illegal spell, requiring a lot of blood and a lot of power."

"Sounds like fun." Neville said with a wince.

"I might teach it to you later. It works with the living as well you know." He added as an afterthought.

The others were starting to come inside now, and wondering why Harry and his friends were standing in the middle of the floor.

They continued on avoiding Harry's little group with a vengeance. Harry could see the hurt in their eyes as they watched friends and even family look at them with fear. "If you want to go back to being normal with the others, I will hold no grudge. But then again now you see what I've been dealing with for years, eh?"

He observed their reactions; Ginny and Luna just shrugged it off and nodded at him. Hermione had always been a semi-outcast, either because of her brains, or because of him, and stayed where she was. Dean and Seamus looked pained at the backs of their friends, then to Harry, and back to their friends.

The battle going on inside them was projected on their faces. Finally Dean looked at Harry and nodded, he believed and supported Harry last year and he'll stand by him this year. Seamus took a step in that direction, then turned with determination and stayed with Harry.

Neville just said, "You're the only friends I have anyway."

Harry looked at this little group of students, soon to be warriors and powerful wizards. His own Gang.

"Thanks." He said to them gratefully, they nodded back at him. Inside they were the last to enter, and everyone watched them walk to their seats at the Gryffindor table.

Harry looked up at the head table and saw that, out of the way, behind it, and in the dark was a table filled with Aurors. They were quietly eating and talking amongst themselves. The Slytherin table seemed depressed, but so did all the others as well.

The sorting seemed longer this year, and it was because it was longer there were about a hundred students being sorted, more than other years where there were about thirty. When it was done Dumbledore made a cheery speech though it sounded forced and he cut it short, he introduced the new DADA teacher who was an Auror that he didn't know.

He was starting to get really drowsy, he continued up the stairs with Hermione and Ginny, the others seemed to have forgotten their fear after lots of food and in need of sleep.

In the common room he parted from the girls with a hug each and went to the dorms. Inside were Dean and Seamus talking and stopped when Harry entered.

"Hey guys. What you talking about?" Harry asked.

"Just some stuff like whether or not there'll still be any DA activities this year." Seamus answered.

"Well I'll have to think about that."

"Ok. Well night mates. I think I…" Dean burped very loudly, "I ate too much."

Neville came in and saw what had happened. He shook his head at Dean and smiled before preparing for bed. Ron soon came in tightlipped and went to bed ignoring all the others.

The night fell with a chill on the Scottish night air.

---- - ----

The Earth spun, around and around. As it has and always will. Down a little closer in Hogwarts, Harry Potter sat in a classroom, which as it was is not important, to him, or to anyone watching.

The days had come, and with as much boredom as possible, left. The nights however, they passed with freakish speed and horror. Dreams, nightmares and visions mixed, creating a frightful parody of sleep for him. It was starting to take its toll on him, there were only so much glamour charms and energy potions could do, his thoughts were sporadic, he looked like the living dead, and he began to become apathetic.

The classroom he was in was boring and hot, he felt he could sleep forever, but refused to let his fears be shown to him yet again. He needed to walk, do something to keep him moving, so sleep would be staved off. He rose, the teacher stopped mid lecture, the students watched eagerly for action. He walked to the door opened it and continued out. The shocked teacher gaped, the students giggled, except for a few who knew that this wasn't right.

Harry kept walking, down the corridor, up a flight of stairs, down another corridor, left across a bridge over a stairwell, down a flight of stairs, and another, to a dank musty corridor. He paused at a painting of a snake, with gold and silver stripes, that hissed insults continually.

He walked up to it, _"What is behind you old one?" _he hissed in parseltongue.

_"The stars and the moon, and the sun and the clouds." _It replied.

_"Admit one who needs to see what you hide." _He finished the long, complicated password.

The painting rose till the opening behind it was revealed. He found behind it, like he had so many times before, the great expanse of the grounds and forbidden forest.

The forest rose and fell before him till it came to a range of mountains, which rose through the forest coming above the tree line, several leagues away. He stood in the field staring at the mountains. It called to him like nothing before ever had, he checked to make sure he had a wand and a few other weapons before starting off on his little trip.

---- - -----

It was already late when he started and he knew he would probably have to stay over night, but he needed to go, like nothing he ever needed to do before. He paused at the edge of the forest letting his doubts and second thoughts come to the front and dispelling them all. He pushed onward on his long and tedious walk.

The trees creaked and groaned with their own voices and eyes looked back at him in the darkness that fell, whether from night or the forest he couldn't tell. The eyes followed him always, different ones, different places, but there was always something watching as though to make sure he didn't do anything untoward in their collective woods.

He kept his wand on hand in case something happened, which it undoubtedly would, his eyes stayed alert, all weariness forgotten as a new adventure unfolded before him. He passed his fingers through leaves and across bark, his shoes became wet and he realized he was totally unready for traveling in the woods, he quickly transfigured his shoes to hiking boots, his slacks to jeans, and shirt and robes to a tee-shirt and jacket.

Well as best as he could anyway. His jeans turned out without any pockets and the jacket was made of the same cloth as the robes, but it worked.

He started when he felt the ground shake, he bent to the ground and pressed his ear to it. Hooves. Shit. He leaned against a tree and made himself to look as unthreatening as possible for someone with several piercing and tattoos all over his body.

He watched the ground ready for the centaurs when they came upon him. Suddenly the ground stopped shaking, and an arrow appeared between his feet.

"We warned you wizards to not stray into our woods! Do you take pleasure in disobeying orders?" One centaur stepped forward and proclaimed.

Harry lifted his head, the centaurs gasped upon seeing the identifying features. "We have warned you before Harry Potter, we will not be merciful upon you!" he laughed in their faces.

"You can't kill me! No one can! No mortal can destroy me!" he shouted at them. They were taken aback by the bold ultimatum.

"Foolish boy, what makes you to be above all others? Nothing! You are a weak untrained boy with great luck." They taunted him, the jeers came from all the centaurs.

"A prophecy stands above me, and even without it I am too powerful for you." He stated.

"A prophecy?" their attention was caught and some fear gained, "A prophecy upon one so young?" the questions arose from the group. A radical youth reared upon his hind legs, "Prophecies can be changed!"

"One must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives…" he said, every centaur heard and understood its meaning, they seemed scared that only the other could kill one of them. They still stood though, as though they could change it. Their bows where raised, and arrows pulled back.

He raised his wand, sharply pointed at their general direction, "Motus Terrae." The earth under the centaurs shook and cracked, the horse instincts seemed to kick in because they spooked and ran at full gallop from the area.

He put his wand away, sighing at even having to put up his arrogant mask in the woods. He had spent valuable time with the beasts and now had less time to get to the mountain before night.

He sped up walking quicker, but the eyes never left him even now when he was so far into the woods that he had to light his wand.

An hour or so pasted and he only encountered a small Acromantula that scuttled off when the light came upon it. The night sky was hidden from view and the vales and clearings and streams and various trees soon began the swirl together in almost a pattern.

The dark became darker and he guessed night was falling now, but he noticed a definite incline in the slope now, but then he saw a glow up ahead. He slowed until he came upon the edge of a clearing stealthily.

The woods parted so that a small pond could linger, surrounded by reeds, and the ground was covered in wildflowers until the edge. What he saw there must have been the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. A fully-grown unicorn stood by the water, drinking.

He could only stare as it looked up and at him and then continued drinking. He was shocked; he knew that unicorns were naturally skittish, so why would it stay if it knew he was there?

He moved forward cautiously, the beast still did not seem to care he was there. He came upon it and sat near it, cross-legged, so it continued drinking. He looked to the pond and cupped some in his hands and drank some himself. The water felt good on his parched throat that he hadn't noticed till now.

The unicorn laid down next to him, as though get to know him. Its huge face turned to him, he studied it closely, the silver-blue eyes in the perfect face.

He reached a hand to it, but it snorted before he could, jerking its head away, he stopped his hand. A feeling of rejection came to him unbidden, he was not allowed to touch something so beautiful? Had he not proved himself worthy? Was he not good enough? Was he really a failure?

He dropped his head, tears threatened to fall from his eyes even though he tried to rationalize it as just a stupid beast. But he knew better. They were smart, good creatures. That was worse, he was being judged again. This time by something that could and did know him.

He knew why he's being rejected, it's because of what he had to be, what he is. He was a murderer, blood had been spilled around him and more will be. The reality of what he had become now hit him. He was a killer, no better, no worse.

He had lost the game of life, that of choosing the right path, your path, and liking it. He had not chosen it, and it was not the one he wanted given the choice.

But knowing why did not lessen the pain of rejection, instead the opposite happened, it heightened it, especially knowing that it was not your choice why you were rejected so completely.

His anger flew now; his emotions were out of his control. Anger at the Unicorn for rejecting him, for judging him, for making him come out of his naivety of what he was. Pain, anger, hopelessness and hate because he knew he couldn't change what he is or what he's done. The hate began to grow fast, hate at the Unicorn, at the world, but mostly at himself.

Faster than anything he had stood, drawn his wand, and pointed it at the unicorn. His hate, anger, and pain whirled together into words. "AVA…" he screamed but stopped with a look of shock on his face, realizing what he almost did.

What the Hell was he doing? He lowered his wand and looked at the Unicorn. "You can judge me all you want it doesn't matter. Throughout summer all I wanted was to get away from my problems, my pain so I took those jobs without really thinking. And yes I've taken a few lives and I will take more. I wasn't born pure like others, I was born a killer, to kill or be killed."

He paused to keep his wand and take a deep breathe before looking straight into the Unicorn's eyes.

"If it was a choice of being pure and being killed or being a killer and being with the ones that care and accept me then I choose to kill. There are those that care about me and love me." He thought of Tonks, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and to a certain extent the gang members who've come to accept him as one of their own.

Harry turned around and started to walk away, not even turning around as he spoke, "I don't need your acceptations though I admit it would have been nice. Goodbye."

Harry was stopped in his tracks and turned around when the Unicorn called out. It reared on its hind-legs. It looked at Harry and nodded its head a few times before running up a hill before turning around to face Harry again and reared on its rear hind-legs calling out again. It looked at Harry for a moment before disappearing down the other side of the hill.

Harry snorted and shook his head. The Unicorn would not allow him to touch it but it seem to accept what Harry had to do and that he was a good person. Or at least that's what he thought; maybe it could just be a stupid horse.

Harry just carried on walking thinking about what just happened. The slope increase as he walked, he climbed unknowingly. The trees became thinner, bushes scraggily. But it all went unnoticed. Even as the grass turned to rock, the air became thinner, and the slope increased.

He soon had to stop, because his body couldn't keep it up. He slumped to the ground. He sat there. His thoughts went back to what happened to him throughout summer and how he was going to deal with Dumbledore and anyone else that may get in his way.

Top on that list was Fudge, turns out the wanker got a second wind and managed to stay in power. He was pretty sure that if anyone other than Dumbledore, the Order and/or Voldemort and his band of ass-kissers were to get in his way it would be Fudge.

The sound of wings fluttered beyond a rock. Automatically, he rose to investigate, over the rock he found a large nest with a red and gold bird inside. A Phoenix.

Maybe this creature wouldn't judge him so harshly. He reached out a hand, unconsciously in the same motion as with the Unicorn, he had almost touched its head, when in a flash phoenix pecked his hand, it trilled out a sharp note that pierced his heart, and disappeared in flames.

Rejected again. "Damn!" he cursed.

He laid back on he ground and closed his eyes, trying to control the wave on emotions that were flying around his mind. He thought about others that cared about me and not let the feelings of rejection and anger overwhelm him.

He woke up a while later. Looking around himself he found himself near the top of one of the mountains that he saw from Hogwarts.

He sat down again and made food from his wand, not good food, but it had the nutrients. He needed that Phoenix, okay more like wanted it to like him. He wanted its judgment of him to be good. Looking to the nest he saw the sleeping Phoenix. He walked to it again.

Reaching for it he was about to touch it before it woke up and disappeared. Sighing he knew he was in for the long haul to accomplish this.

TBC

A/N:  
Thanks to darknessallover for giving the sugguetions, currently I'm just expanding what was originally written, adding in some new ideas and lightly filling in some plot holes here and there.

The skills and other items will be explained and expanded on more later like the Rune magic (about another 2 or 3 chapters later, elemental will make an apperance too) and I'll think about getting rid of some of his weapons.

The relationship will be worked on later, especially with his main group.

Thanks to everyone for reviewing and supporting.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N:  
Hey everyone! Sorry I've been gone for so long, had a string of projects to work on and a string of heath issues to settle widom teeth pulled last week and laser treat for my eye today, have to lower the brightness of the screen.

Anyway for some good news, I've just completed my NS (ORD LOH!!!) and am taking a short 2-3 week break before looking for a job (proved my parents don't get on my case still got to clean my room) ao I'm hoping to use this time to work on most of current my fics and some new ones.

Thanks for all the reviews and suggestions.

---- - ----

He had been up on this mountain for a week. He had received a letter from Dumbledore and had responded that he didn't need help and would not like his presence, even if it weren't in those exact words. The pain and angst had past, with his new goal in mind. It had been three weeks since school started; he idly wondered what was happening.

The phoenix didn't seem to like him much. It didn't seem to hate him either. It would disappear when he tried to touch it, but would stay until then. Harry had sat beside that nest just watching the creature. He sometimes got the urge to just entrap its soul, but he doubted it would like black magic being worked on it.

He kept up his reading up here, he had summoned his books, and practiced magic against the dummies he would conjure. They were normal level opponents, about the strength of a mid-rank Auror, perhaps a Death Eater in training. It looked like a Death Eater for sure, no real features, all hidden behind a cloak.

He would often battle three or four at a time, then heal himself when he got his ass handed to him. The healing spells didn't seem to work well when used on yourself, it left mild scars. He was used to having Tonks use healing spells on him.

At this moment he was just watching the phoenix, he spent most of his day like this. Just watching it and sometimes talking to it. It seemed to understand him to an extent, kind of like Hedwig. It would just look him in the eyes, wisdom like no other shown in them and a fierceness he had seen in few.

He asked it, for what seemed the millionth, "Will you come with me?"

It just cocked its head to the side. Harry growled at it but it seemed unperturbed.

He stood and walked to his 'bed' a little platform he had conjured a tent around, unfortunately he couldn't make it big on the inside, so he just made it a large tent. Sleep came to him quickly when he dreamt of the future, what he hoped would be the future anyway at least the nightmares how stopped.

---- - ----

The morning sun swept over him, waking him. He stood and used a couple of charms to make breakfast. After that he went outside to practice his magic. The phoenix was asleep with its head under its wing.

Harry conjured four normal level opponents. They stood motionless where they had been summoned. He pulled his wand out, took his place before them, and breathed. "Start!" Came his command. They hesitated one second then began to advance in a staggered line.

He looked for options, the rocks were few and far between, and the scrub bushes were worthless, he had used up most of the natural resources over the course of the week. He started the duel with the lightening bust he had used at the Train station.

It struck one which fell, twitching, to the ground, he doubted it was dead, but he wouldn't have to worry about it for about ten minutes. The other three, quickly started spewing spells at him. Forcing him to the defensive, he made shield after shield only to have them broken by well placed curses.

He apparated behind the dummies, conjured a brick wall and apparated back to his original spot. Unfortunately, he was not fast enough to avoid for one of the dummies' spells. His arm suddenly started to bleed from a cutting hex. He gasped but kept with his plan. The dummies had just turned to the wall behind them, the spell he had been hit with was a stray.

He activated the 'Earth' rune on his left forearm and caused an earthquake at the ground under the wall, it fell on them, two of them managed to get shields up. The other was crushed and buried.

The other two started protect themselves while Harry caught his breath. Harry started to store energy into a rock by his feet. He threw a bit of fire at them to distract them from his energy storing. They renewed their attack, but this time it was about even, each side throwing offensive and defensive.

Harry moved from his defensive position and led them to the place were he had stored energy in a rock. With a word he released it, they were blown back several feet, they regained their footing but not before Harry was upon them, using an array of strong curses.

It looked like he would have the advantage then pain spread across his back. He rolled out of the cross fire. He turned around to see the dummy he had hit with the lightning get back up to its feet. He cast the killing curse at it which hit. It dropped dead leaving him with one less opponent to deal with.

He dropped to the ground, dodging several curses, he swore. He was under a barrage of spells. He screamed "Stop!" the dummies vanished. He lay on the ground, bleeding from open wounds, and smoking from several burns.

The healing charms were challenging to get on his back, and he had several new scars to add to his collection. After reading as much as he could handle which was about an hour these days since he always had the phoenix on his mind.

He went to watch it again, trying to figure out its mystery, what did it want from him? What did he want from it? He sighed watching it night slowly came to the mountain, he asked the question again "Will you come with me?" same question, same response.

He decided, after cleaning himself up after losing again to the dummies, that routine was overrated. Night fell upon him, asleep in his tent.

---- - ----

The phoenix seemed agitated today, when he asked the question, it sang a note to him. He stared at it for a while.

"Why won't you come with me?"

The bird sang again. It spread its wings and flew around Harry's head, smacking its wings into him, hard. He grabbed it out of the air. Its beak came close to his head, but he managed to snag it. The phoenix calmed down, he stroked it, rubbed its beak, soon it stopped struggling and started nuzzling into Harry. Harry nearly jumped up and down.

He looked at it, but amazingly it was asleep. He was frankly amazed, he expected some magic ritual, maybe binding, telepathy, something of that nature, the lore around the birds was such that he wouldn't have been surprised if it was some ancient wizard. It was none of those, he realized it was simple trust that the bird needed. It was a bird. An intelligent bird with some cool powers to be sure, but in the end it was just a bird.

He got rid of all the stuff he had made up there; it was almost like home by now. His hike back to Hogwarts seemed almost boring compared to the trails of the hike up and the centaurs ran when they saw him.

---- Hogwart's Grounds ----

Twilight was coming, and a Quidditch team was practicing out on the field. He emerged from the forest and continued his stroll to the castle, his hood of his cloak up to give him some form of warmth. Someone must have spotted him because there was a welcoming committee at the front door.

"Professor." He nodded curtly at the old man in front of him.

Harry remembered him trying to make amends before he had left Harry had refused. It felt like a different life. Dumbledore's eyebrows rose when he recognized the voice. The bulge that was his phoenix shuffled and all the wands of the group rose. Sighing Harry lowered his hood and drew it back to reveal the phoenix in his arms. Beside Dumbledore several teachers gasped, in the back someone shouted.

"Let me through, what is going on here?" Cornelius Fudge shoved his way to the front.

"Ah, Mr. Potter," he snarled, "Delightful, now that you are here you can be arrested." He spat. "Aurors! Arrest him!" several Aurors pushed their way to the front. Harry drew the cloak around his phoenix, hiding it from view.

"What for?" he nearly shouted, his control was about to slip.

"Use of dark magic." Fudge smiled.

"You are kidding me right? You think I don't know that you can't detect dark magic?" Harry laughed at the Ministers pathetic excuse for a reason. Fudge seemed to lose composure for a moment, but regained it.

"It doesn't matter, I have a witness." The smugness was back.

"Yeah right. Who?"

"Draco Malfoy, claims you used a mind control spell on him, and you should know that all mind control spells are illegal and therefore dark magic."

"Sounds like lies to me, but I have a good Lawyer." Harry smirked as a plan formed in his mind.

He told his phoenix to wait in the mountains for his return before the Aurors took him by portkey to a holding cell in the Ministry. The last thing he saw was the bird flapping gracefully off towards where Harry had just come from.

---- Ministry of Magic – Courtroom 10 ----

It took four days for the Wizenmagot to convene for him. Again he suspected that they didn't usually have a full convention just for some minor dark arts.

He sat still on the chair they provided which wasn't very comfortable until a cough echoed through the chamber; he looked up to see the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge and Prof. Dumbledore standing above him.

They continued through the preliminaries, and they brought in Draco Malfoy to present evidence, the boy had a resentful look in his eyes and a smirk on his face, a strange combination to be sure.

"Mr. Malfoy, you are here to give testimony of the happenings on September the first, please proceed."

"On the way inside the school, I heard a commotion behind me on the steps, I turned to see Potter coming along, upon seeing me he pulled a wand and made an unfamiliar wand motion, I blacked out. When I woke from it, I remembered what had happened, he had forced me to kneel and kiss the hem of his robes."

"Do know have speculation as to why he would force you to do this?"

"No I haven't the faintest idea, except maybe as some sort of twisted sign of respect he wanted from me."

"Thank you Mr. Malfoy." Draco left.

"Not a very good witness Fudge." Harry said.

"I don't see why. He condemned you to a few years in Azkaban." Fudge almost laughed.

"Actually, he helped me, seeing as he couldn't even give a good description of a mind controlling curse." Muttering rose from court.

"It doesn't matter, it's obvious his mind was controlled." Fudge spat.

"Well it's not actually, seeing as the imperious curse is the only mind controlling curse that doesn't require physical contact."

"Then you must have used that on him! Is that what you are saying!"

"He could recognize the imperious curse, we had training in it in our fourth year, so seeing as he didn't recognize the curse, it was not that." Fudge sputtered for moment.

"You clearly attacked the boy using dark magic, so that really doesn't matter!"

"It does seeing as how I used a body controlling curse which is legal."

"It cannot be! All control curses are illegal!" shouted someone from the back of the court.

"It is legal because in the law it names the curses that are illegal, I used a foreign curse not in the law." Silence greeted his words.

"Technicality." Fudge shouted.

"Yes it is, but that does not matter."

"So it seems Mr. Potter, you must forgive us again, for this grievous error." Spoke the one voice of reason in the chaos, Madame Bones.

"I must do nothing of the sort, I'll have your jobs is what I'll do."

"You have no power here Potter, even your name isn't enough for that."

"Maybe, but the law states that three heads of old pureblood families, can change three people of this court or move to change the Minister of Magic. And sometimes the government can't control its people" Again his words shocked them, he turned and headed out the door.

---- - ----

Making his way up towards the surface, he heard running from behind him. Turning around he saw a man unfamiliar to him, "Mr. Potter!" he shouted. Harry waited for him to catch up. "Mr. Potter, I heard you were here, I wondered if I could get a word?" Harry stared at him then blinked.

"Oh, for an interview, of course. What paper do you work for?" he studied the man, tall, stringy, and sort of sickly looking.

"The London Wand. So you'll be willing to give me a word?"

"Actually," the man's face fell, "if you go and call a press conference for me I'll let you have first question. Deal?" The man nodded excitedly, not even saying good-bye before rushing off, like a messenger pigeon.

He wandered the lobby talking with a few people here and there, they all seemed surprised to see him, when he thought about it, it was obvious why, the school year had already started.

He found the formal exit of the Ministry, a very large set of marble steps, lined with columns made of glass. It made for quite the impression. People with cameras, notebooks, and pads of parchment lined up at the bottom of the steps. He waited in the shadows by the door, regular people were starting to show, word spread fast from the Ministry. He saw the podium up front a table in front had dozens upon dozens of pieces of parchment with quills set upon them. When everyone that was going to be there was there he straightened his robes, and strode to the podium.

The crowd fell silent, he looked out over them. "Welcome. Thank you for coming. I called you here because today the Ministry has proved itself, beyond a doubt, that it is corrupt and unbalanced. For the second time I have been not only prosecuted but persecuted by the administration."

He let this sink in before continuing, "The first time I was charged for the use of a patronus charm, against Dementors that were sent by the Ministry itself." he let his voice rise towards the end, coming to a shout on the last word, shock spread throughout the crowd.

"The second time, today, I was charged for a charm which is not even illegal, on the word of the son of a Death Eater. Who is known for his childish grudge against me for over five years."

The crowd was fast turning into a mob, a very angry mob, it seemed that the mob was harboring its own negative feelings for the government; his own just set them off. "For a government that is supposed to be protecting us from Death Eaters, Fudge seems to be trying to kill innocents and prosecuting them for defending themselves. That does not sound like a very good way of going about it."

The mob was starting to shout; riling itself up even further. A full squad of Aurors spilled forth from the doors of the Ministry. They quickly surrounded the mob, wands out and shields up.

"Ah I see my points proven for me." Harry continued to the audience as if he didn't have dozens of wands trained on him. "Seeing as our visitors cannot stop us, shall we continue? Questions?" The mob was reduced to a crowd once again, and the reporters stood and started shouting for their question to be heard.

"You claimed that the ministry sent Dementors after you? How did you come to this conclusion?" The man he had promised first question asked, once Harry had found him and called for him.

"The Undersecretary of the Minister, Umbridge, told me she had authorized the attack, right before she threatened me with the cruciotus curse, at school, when she was Headmaster of Hogwarts." Stunned silence. Reporters called for questions again. Picking a random one.

"Why wasn't this ever known to the public? How were you charged without the media getting in on it?"

"I was tried under a full Wizengamot, in old Courtroom 10, I believe it was a closed session."

"A full Wizenmagot?!" the same reporter burst in.

"Yes, I was represented by Albus Dumbledore." The hands shot in the air again. "Yes." He said pointing to a woman in the back.

"You say the Undersecretary of the Ministry, while she was the Headmistress of Hogwarts, threatened you with the cruciotus curse?"

"Along with detentions with a quill that cuts the words you wrote into the back of your hand." The crowd could not hold back its gasps.

"You were forced to cut words into the back of your hand? Were you the only one?"

"No, there was another in my house, I have no idea who else in the other houses. She also authorized the flogging of students, fortunately she was expelled from the school before she could put it to use." He held his hand up to them, the words 'I must not tell lies' stood out from his hand.

"Do the words have any significance?"

"I was given the detentions because I told my classmates about the return of Lord Voldemort. Also when I contradicted her when she got her facts wrong."

"What facts did she have wrong?"

"She claimed my first year teacher was a good one. I am here to tell you he was possessed by Voldemort, he died after trying to steal the Sorcerers Stone, when Lord Voldemort left him." The questions were flying thick now.

"Is this the only information kept hidden about the happenings at the school?"

"I doubt it, you probably don't know that in my second year the Chamber of Secrets was opened, and that I discovered I was a Parslemouth that year as well. Third year a man who was pretending to be dead was hiding at the school." He stopped here knowing the question that was coming.

"Who?" Came from too many directions.

"Peter Pettigrew. He was hiding in his illegal animagus form of a rat. They also had captured Sirius Black again, and tried to execute him, he escaped. Forth year during the whole year, Barty Crouch Jr. used polyjuice to impersonate Alastor Moody. His father was being held under imperious and was killed by the son. Crouch Jr. was given The Dementor's Kiss by Fudge when he realized the implications."

All around him was chaos, everyone's lives were turned upside-down, and they believed him. They were looking at him as if he was the one person they could trust.

And he was. This was his following, the people. They knew the truth when he told them; they supported him. But the Aurors were still standing there, even if most of them looked like they wanted to join the throng.

"Go home. Tell others the truth. Let the world know the corruption of this government." With that he stepped away from the podium, people started disaparating, back home, back to the office, or back to the papers.

He was soon left with a bunch of Aurors. They went back inside, to write up the reports for their bosses. Some of them gave him nods of approval as they walked pass him.

"You caused a lot of trouble today, Harry."

"I just told the people the truth." He turned and saw Dumbledore standing there.

The old man sighed. "Truth is a double-edged sword. Now that the people know what was hidden, what do you think will happen?"

"Is that why you kept things from me? And to answer your question, exactly what should, there will be revolution in Britain. It may take years but the seed is planted, and hopefully a new, stronger, and more just government will be put forth."

"That is not what we need with Voldemort on the war path."

"This is exactly what we need. Do you think that that wanker and his corrupt supporters are going to do anything other than line their pockets?" He pointed his finger at the Ministry. "And Voldemort will not last long, and there are always going to be Dark Lords, it is a fact of nature, as sure as there will always be night. The Dark Lords of the other nations will not let him keep going, and I will be there to finish him off."

"You think other Dark Lords will take an interest in him and help destroy him?"

"No but if I have something they want they may be persuaded to help me."

"Dealing with the devil is dangerous business, Harry."

"They may be more help than you think. You think that these people deserve a chance at redemption and will try to give them that chance at the price of a few innocent lives. All for your so called greater good. How many innocent lives must be lost before you realize that some people are not worth saving?"

"But Harry this course of action maybe result in hundreds of innocent lives being lost."

"HA! You still say that after what I told you. You're the one willing to sacrifice others lives and happiness. This is war, thousands will die. The question is which side will lose more. Look over there." They turned and saw five young children playing in the street. "Are you willing to sacrifice them to redeem a Death Eater who may just kill them without a second thought?"

"But Harry if we disable them…"

"They will just be revived by other Death Eaters and carry on killing. That's what I learnt in the Department of Mysteries. Had I killed those Death Eaters instead of stunning them maybe my friends would not have been hurt as badly as they were."

Dumbledore sighed and shook his head. He did not believe that this was the right course of action but he did not think that it was the time to have a head on confrontation with Harry especially since he will soon have the support of the entire Wizarding community in Britain.

Dumbledore took out a small gem. "Touch this."

Harry eyed it suspiciously, "Come Harry even in your mind, I won't harm a pawn, as you put it." Harry looked less then comforted by these words, it sounded to him like the Headmaster was using his words so he wouldn't have to use his own.

"Alright but we both know this is not over." Harry touched the gem.

Dumbledore nodded, "Hogwarts."

TBC

Please Review. Thanks.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N:  
Thanks to everyone whose read and reviewed my story.

Treck: Your line is too good not to use so I will probably use it in a chapter or 2.

-- - --

It was December now, his press conference had worn off slightly by now, but he still saw its effects, a little more respect in the teachers' eyes, a little more fear from the students, and subtle rebellion against the government everyday

It was December now, his press conference had worn off slightly by now, but he still saw its effects, a little more respect in the teachers' eyes, a little more fear from the students, and subtle rebellion against the government everyday.

Dumbledore had offered him extra training, but Harry was unsure if he should pursue it, Harry had no idea what ulterior motives the man could and most likely had. Additionally, Harry didn't know of anything the old man could teach him that he couldn't learn himself. He did not want to owe the Headmaster anything.

The library at Hogwarts was a truly amazing thing. He had scoured the place, remembering sections that looked useful. Most of them were in the restricted section granted, but there were a few that were not. He had even found a section in the farthest back that it was nearly hidden; he would have passed by the opening if he hadn't seen a glint within.

He had explored the glint to find a table within a small section of books. The books themselves were rather random. They looked like the misfits that couldn't find a place in the main library. Books like'What to do when trapped on an exploding volcano' and 'The Perfect Quill: which bird, the best cutting and care'. He had seen nothing of interest, but was sure to tell Hermione.

He really only stayed at the Hogwarts for the library, he didn't really think what they taught in class was going to be of much use for the battlefield. Maybe he could contact someone who would help train him, there had to be someone who could teach him.

Tonks was as vibrant as always, she was spending almost all of her free time with him, and unfortunately he couldn't say the same. He had an enormous amount of free time, he only went to the minimum number of classes, about two, sometimes three classes a day, but it was only because of protocol. A student had to take at least four subjects to stay at the school.

He was taking Charms, he rather liked Prof. Fitwick. Transfiguration, he did not want to tell his Head of House and one of the professors he respected most that he could learn what she had to teach from a book. Care of Magical Creatures, he's pretty sure Hagrid would be rather up-set is he dropped his class. And Defence Against the Dark Arts, he'd figured it'd be an easy O but more importantly he could see first hand what his group was or more likely wasn't learning.

His little group of students that had supported him had grown slightly after his little speech at the Ministry of Magic. His group now consisted of the core group, these that went with him to the Department of Mysteries: Hermione, Luna, Neville and Ginny. Seamus and Dean who stood by him in the beginning of the year.

His new members included Su Li from Ravenclaw who decided to join the group, Terry Boot also decided to stay with the group despite most other Ravenclaws avoiding the group.

Ernie Macmillan whose family believed him last year also decided to stay, believing that Harry was not evil and was important in the up-coming war.

Susan Bones stayed in the group as well and told Harry that her Aunt had always supported him. Justin Finch-Fletchley also decided to stay with the group.

The others that stayed or joined were his fellow Gryffindors, Katie Bell, Demelza Robins who also joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team as a chaser and Daniel Black a fourth year transfer student from Durmstrang.

They had renamed the group, 'Shadow Guard' or SG for short. Their purpose was not to learn Defense for their studies but to be prepared to fight a war, to be ready to be at the frontlines if necessary.

They would learn everything he learnt over the summer even the Dark Arts. He made this clear to them and had them sign a magically binding contract not to reveal the existence and what is taught during the SG meetings.

Since the group started after Harry's trial, they taught some dueling. They needed lots of help, some didn't know any real offensive magic, just what had been passed off as offensive in previous years. So he taught them things like, the Explosion Curse, the Lance Spell and the Cutting Hex. Tonks would help during the meetings seeing as she's usually free in the evenings, the both of them had continued their studies from the summer.

Tonight he will be introducing them to firearms and martial arts, won't they be surprised. But for today he had some shopping to do and a package to pick up from Diagon Alley. Screw the rules.

-- Diagon Alley --

Walking around, head held high scar showing to the world, muggle cloths and piercings glinting in the sun, to search for Christmas gifts, he had been procrastinating, with just over a week left, he hadn't even had a clue what he wanted to get for them. He looked through the shops Christmas deals, and selections.

For Hermione he had found a bracelet that he thought she would love. It was a chain of silver and white gold, it cost a bit, but it wasn't as if he had to worry about money.

For Tonks he had found a necklace made of platinum and a small locket with a diamond in the center with beautiful and elegant patterns engraved on it.

Ginny got a set of dress robes he had seen her sighing over in a magazine. He would have gotten something Quidditch for her, but he thought that this would be better.

Neville was a hard choice. Finally he decided to get Neville a family sword. He had two, one from the Black side and another from the Potter side. The Longbottom's were an old pureblood family, but never had one made.

He went to the black smith, described the sword to him, it would be a scimitar, with the hilt curved down and the pommel was the head of a dragon. It was beautiful, but not really practical, and they weren't meant to be, they were made to be worn at the side to parties, and other formal occasions.

Voldemort had been surprisingly quiet, he was most likely looking for support from the continent. Harry also needed to do the same. He had met a contact, which had led him to another contact, and then to a follower of the Italian Dark Lord. He had made arrangements through the man to meet with the Dark Lord during Christmas. He had later gone through some Italian newspapers looking for information on the man.

He was a new Dark Lord, only about three years in public, but had a large following of semi-powerful wizards. He had stood up to the Italian Wizarding Monarchy, and defied him openly, calling on a revolt. Harry was surprised at first, that that was all it took to be named a Dark Lord? But then read on to the butchery of about half of the King's court. He probably could be safely described as a Dark Lord though he did not sound like a crazy bigot psycho like Voldemort in fact he sounded more like a revolutionist.

He sat down at a café waiting for his package from Nate and Pat. He'd sent a letter using Hedwig asking for some supplies which would help with his upcoming meetings after vacation. He will be holding a meeting of the members of his group the last day before vacation, which would be tonight.

"Well, well, well. Fancy meeting you here." A wizard in lime green robes seat down with Harry.

"I take it Nate and Pat sent you. Do you have what I asked for?"

"Of course." The Wizard placed for matchboxes on the table. "And a few extras that they thought might come in handy. Oh. And no charge."

"Thanks." Harry kept the matchboxes and got up to leave.

-- Room of Requirement --

Harry was currently dressed in his workout clothes which consisted of black trainers and track-pants which a white stripe going down either side and a white tank-top. His short sword was strapped to his back and he was going through his staff katas.

Tonks, Hermione, Neville, Ginny and Susan were the first to enter the room and watched mesmerized by Harry's swift and deadly movement plus the girls rather liked what they saw.

Su Li was the next to enter and she too was mesmerized by Harry's moves. She had learnt martial arts before and was impressed by his moves.

Finally when everybody was there he finished his kata and towel off before he spoke to the group.

"Now that you're all here, we can begin. I know we haven't done much but learn a few curses and such, but I want to tell you that when we get back from Christmas break this will change, we will be forming three person groups, these will be fighting teams designed to get in quick, kill a few Death Eaters, and get out. You will apparate, kill as many as you can and then apparate out, if they set up anti-apparation wards then you will portkey or teleport out." Several had looks of hesitation in their eyes but he heard no outright complaints, that was good, spoken disagreements would be hard to convince. "I will teach you to teleport, or port, multi-kill spells and use of firearms…"

"Whats a firearm?" Neville interrupted him.

"It's a muggle projectile weapon, it fires small bits of metal at incredibly fast speeds." Neville looked thoughtful for a moment then seemed to realize the implications, widening his eyes, almost eagerly.

"The teams will all be designed for fast usage then you just disappear. We will start on that after the break, if I can, I will arrange a session during vacation."

"Excuse me Harry but what's the use of a firearm when we already have our wands?" Ernie asked.

"Actually I'm glad one of you asked. Come over here Ernie since you're one of the fastest spell casters here you will be perfect."

Ernie stood next to Harry as two human shaped manikins materialized about ten meters away from them. Harry picked up his Desert Eagle from where the rest of his equipment was.

"Alright Ernie this is what we're going to do. Tonks will count down from three, at 'go' you will cast a spell of your choice to take down your dummy while I use this to take down mine. Understand?"

Ernie nodded and Tonks started to count down, "3… 2… 1… GO!"

Ernie quickly raised his wand but before he could cast a spell, he and most everyone else was covering their ears as Harry emptied his magazine into the dummy, blowing its head to pieces and sending large chunks of it flying on the floor behind it.

Harry ejected the spent magazine, "You'll get use to the sound, this is one of the most powerful and loudest handguns in the World. Any questions?"

The rest of the members just shook their heads in awe except Hermione, Tonks and some of the half-bloods and muggleborn who already know about guns.

"Harry mate. You think you can let me try that." Seamus asked eyeing Harry's Desert Eagle.

"Sorry mate. Took me a while before I can use this without falling on my arse or spraining my wrist. But you will all get to try using a gun by the end of the night."

There were some excited chatter amongst the group before Harry spoke up again, "You will also be learning Martial Arts which is a form of muggle fighting and self-defense where you can use your hands, feet, legs and sometimes weapons to protect yourself and/or takedown your opponent ."

This was met with less than excited mummurs.

"Before any of you ask the reason is because you will need to train up your stamina and other than physical training which we will also to do Martial Arts because you will not always have your wand with you or your gun."

He scanned the group some looked thoughtful but they didn't seem convinced.

"Su Li."

"Yes Harry?" She stepped forward.

"You've learnt Martial Arts before haven't you?"

"Yes. How did you know?"

"Just a guess. A friend told me that most Asian families usually teach their children some form of Martial Arts." Harry motioned for her to move towards the training mats that appeared in place of the dummies.

Su Li nodded in understanding and took off her robes and wand and placed them on the chair.

"Actually Su Li there're some track-pants and other stuff in there if you want to change."

"It's ok." She pulled her skirt up slightly showing that she was wearing a pair of spandex shorts.

"Good to see you're always prepared for a duel."

Su Li blushed, "Just once in a while." She joined Harry on the mat.

They bowed to each.

"Take it easy on me ok. I only started this summer."

"I doubt you'll need me to take it easy on you."

Harry lurched forward and threw a punch. Su Li ducked and sweep kicked him but he jumped up, spun round and brought his foot down. Su Li rolled out of the way just in time.

Su Li charged forward and threw a kick to his side which he blocked and retaliated with a kick to her side of his own. She grabbed on to his leg and kicked him in his right knee bringing him down to one knee while she still held on to his left leg.

He jumped up intending to kick her in the head. Su Li managed to duck the kick but had to let go of his leg. Harry rolled forward, spun round and got to his feet.

The rest watched in awe, this night was certainly full of surprises. They never knew muggles possessed such knowledge.

Su Li charged and threw a series of kicks and punches, he blocked every one of her moves with graceful efficacy.

"His moves. I've seen them somewhere before." Su Li thought.

But this lapse in focus was all Harry needed to capitalize, he managed to punch her in the gut and in quick succession, grabbed her head under his arm and used his right hand to lift her up and slam her to the ground.

He quick jumped up with brought his knee down to where her head would have been had she not rounded out of the way. He looked over just in time to receive a kick to his nose, breaking it.

Everyone gasped when they saw blood gush from Harry's nose. Su Li jumped up intending to finish the move Harry failed to do earlier but was stopped mid-air when Harry brought his legs up and kicked her off.

Harry jumped back up to his feet ready to strike but got a knee to the gut instead, followed by a foot to his face and a throw landing him on his back. He opened his eyes just in time to see Su Li's fist stop an inch away from his face.

She brought her fist away and placed her arms at either side of his head his arms pinned by her legs. She was breathing hard and covered in sweat. He noticed that he was breathing hard and covered in sweat as well but he also had a bloody nose.

"You're very good for someone who just started. Who taught you?" She asked breathlessly and stood up.

"Master Lin of the Cobra Strike Dojo." He answered as he got to his feet and wiped his nose but the blood still free-flowed.

Tonks walked over and cast a healing spell to fix his nose.

"So you are the student he spoke so highly of."

"Huh? You know Master Lin?"

"Yes. He's a close friend of my family. And He's been telling us about this student, a wizard, he's been training hard and has great potential. I see he wasn't over exaggerating."

Harry had to cut his conversation with Su Li short. He gathered all the members around the mat and enlarged one of the matchboxes he picked up earlier. He opened it, revealing ten 9mm Glorks and ten Webley-Fosbery revolvers, loose ammo and dozens of clips.

After explaining the basic functions of a handgun and other firearms, how to use them and most importantly safety practices, Harry handed everyone a Glork and a clip. He had them line up along the edge of the mat and a dummy appeared in front of each of them.

He had them load their weapons and start shooting at their targets. Most of them were not prepared for the recoil especially Neville who fell on his butt. None of them hit their targets.

After some coaching from Harry and Tonks, most were able to stay on their feet and hit their targets a few times but not in the vital spots to seriously disable or kill a person. Harry had to work with Neville personally for quite a while before Neville could even fire the gun without dropping it.

After an hour of practicing and a few hundred rounds later, Harry kept all the weapons and called the meeting to a close. After only Harry, Tonks and his initial group were left, they approached him.

"Are you going to be staying at the school for Christmas?"

"No, I will be staying in London at my flat."

"Will you be able to make it over for Christmas?" Ginny asked, handing him an invitation from her mother.

"I can't, I'm going to be in Italy for a couple of days, working out some details with Lord Lorenzo."

"Who?" was repeated several times.

"I am working out an alliance with Lord Lorenzo of Italy "

"You cannot be serious Harry, I've heard of him, he staged the mass murder of over two hundred of the Italian Magical Monarchy." Hermione was sounded a little distressed.

"We will be discussing a deal over dinner."

"Allying ourselves with a Dark Lord," with a shake of his head, "why did Dumbledore choose you to meet with him?" Seamus asked.

"Who said anything about Dumbledore?"

"Then who are you representing?" Luna piped up for the first time that night.

"Myself and us. Let me tell you now, we are in no shape or form connected with Dumbledore and his Order, nor with the ministry, we are our own organization."

"But how can we trust a Dark Lord?"

"Because I can give him something that he would not get anywhere else. My help."

His phoenix flew through a window and landed on his shoulder and giving him a letter from his beak. He read through his letter, set it down and burning it with a snap of his fingers.

"But we have more pressing matters, one of my spies tells me that the Ministry will be raiding the homes of the Lovegoods, the Longbottoms, and my flat in a few days looking for us, unfortunately that brings up some difficulty because I cannot be in court for several days getting you off. You will all owl your parents, we are going on a vacation to Italy." He dug in his pack and handed them some parchment.

"What about our families, shouldn't they be leaving too?"

"They are after us, your families will be fine."

"Why do we have to leave, they aren't raiding our homes." Seamus objected.

"They will be next, this is just the start, you all are connected with me and the Ministry will be all over you."

"Why don't they just put out arrest warrants, and come and get us here?"

"They don't want a big scandal like last time they went after me. If they issue an arrest warrant there has to be a public trail, but if they arrest you in your home in a raid, it can be an inside trail, or even none at all." He set them to writing there letters home, he would take them from the train station to the airport, hoping that the Ministry and the Death Eaters didn't have contacts with the muggles.

He would get into Hogsmeade tonight and then outside the wards of Hogwarts so he could call the airport and then the hotel in Rome, maybe a Wizarding inn, something they could rent out over the holidays. He figured that they would be safe in Italian borders, seeing as how if they each didn't have their own Dark Lord problems Wizarding Britain and Italy most likely would have gone to war several years ago.

The Italians were still angry that the Wizarding population didn't help them in WWII and declared the entire population of magical England blood traitors. And the Brits were angry over all the embargoes and tariffs the Italians placed over British goods.

So safe to say if the Ministry in Britain ever found out they where in Italy, the Italians would stop them at the borders. The rest had finished their letters and were waiting as he sat in contemplation of the next few moves he was about to make. He looked up and saw them waiting, he gave the letters to his phoenix and whispered in her ear. She left with a trill.

"Get ready for tomorrow, bring only a backpack with essentials, I will buy everything we need as we go along. Don't worry, anything you need I can get."

"What about the others?" Hermione asked.

Harry thought for a moment, "It will be fine. So far no one outside of our group know about the others. So far everyone knows you guys because you've been with me since day one. The others joined later secretly. But just in case."

Harry took out another parchment and wrote down instructions and sealed them. He cast a secrecy charm on it so that no one can open it or even read it without the password and wand signature.

Harry cast another charm and the letter multiplied to several more just as Hedwig flew into the Room of Requirements.

"Hey girl. I need you to deliever these as quickly as you can, try not to be seen. Don't wait for a reply and we will be leaving tomorrow." Hedwig hooted and flew off.

"What were those Harry?" Dean asked.

"Instructions."

-- - --

He walked through the corridors and out the Entrance Hall. He could tell he was being followed, but couldn't bring himself to care, it was probably one of the order or maybe the Aurors. Either way they would only follow him to the edge of the wards then go alert the Headmaster.

Once in Hogsmeade he made his way through town to the farthest he could get from the town and still know where he was. He pulled his cell phone out of a pocket, flipping it open he growled when he noticed he didn't have service. Putting it back in his pocket he apparated into London and called up a friend from the summer.

"Hey Mike how are you … Good, good, how is business without me, huh? … Glad that you guys can survive without me. Look I need a favor … No, no, nothing like that, I need a plane to Italy and nice hotel reservations for eight …Yeah for the whole Holiday … You can get a private plane? When the hell did we get the money for that? … oh right, right we don't buy stuff we steal it …Then its good, have it ready to fly by six o'clock tomorrow evening, and have a car for all eight of us at kings cross at five. If you want you can come with us? … No alright … you can bill to my account you know, I don't want to spend too much company money … Yeah I have to get some friends out of the country, the gov is getting too nosy. … Thanks a lot, I'll talk to you later, k? Yeah. Bye."

-- King's Cross Station --

"Harry I don't mean to sound critical, but how are we getting to Italy?" Hermione pointed out as they got off the train.

"Don't worry about it, I got it all figured out." All eight put their bags over their shoulders and went out to the main muggle station. They got outside and stood looking at Harry.

"Umm, Harry, are we supposed to be going somewhere?" Neville put in quietly.

Just then an incredible car pulled up to the curb, it was massive It was a rectangle type car, but stretched to the limit. It stopped at the curb where they were standing. A door opened and a old man in a business suit and very little gray hair, stuck his head out.

"Hey Harry like the ride?" the man smirked.

"You always find the biggest car you can then make it bigger don't you." He said looking over the black car, it was taller than he was and he had to step on to a step that came out to get in.

He climbed out and found a seat, until he realized that the others hadn't gotten in yet. "Hey guys, hop in."

Hesitantly Hermione first came forward and got in, eventually Luna, Neville, Tonks, Ginny, Dean and Seamus all got in.

"Thanks again for the ride Mike. Everybody this is Mike, I work for him and a few of his associates during the summer. Mike this is Hermione, Luna, Neville, Ginny, Dean, Seamus, and Tonks, who I think you've met before," he pointed each out as he talked, "Mike runs a construction company, owns a bank, a couple of clubs, anything else you've got since I've left?"

"Nah we kinda just keep things running since you left." He winked.

The driver in the front seat had long ago taken off; he wore a black suit and sunglasses, the usual outfit for a bodyguard. He was now pulling into the drive of private airfield. They bypassed all security, and boarded the plane directly, it was small only room for about ten, they all sat comfortably on couch like seats. It wasn't very well furnished, but better than any airline.

"Fly safely!" Mike shouted from the jet way, and backed off. The engines soon started rumbling and the plane moved.

The others looked wary, especially Ginny and Neville who had no idea what was happening. "Harry! What's going on?" Ginny shouted, standing up.

"Calm down Ginny we're flying to Italy."

"In what! This thing!?" She kept shouting.

"Ginny just sit down, don't make me stun you." She complied rather slowly.

"I think you need to tell us what is going on, Harry," Hermione said, the plane started moving down the run way, soon it was in the air, he tossed them all a stick of gum.

"What's up?" He said congenially

"Who was that Mike guy, what kind of work did you do this summer, and how did you get a private plane? For starters."

"I told you I worked for Mike." He said avoiding the other questions.

"And what kind of work did you do for him?" she said suspiciously.

He sighed. "Oh well." He thought, "They should know anyway."

"I stole stuff and sold drugs." He said, Dean, Seamus and Hermione gasped, Ginny and Neville and Luna were torn between confusion and curiosity. Tonks didn't look surprise, Harry had told her everything he did before.

Luna was the first to talk, "What are drugs?"

"You know how if you drink to much alcohol, you get drunk? Drugs are illegal chemicals that make you sort of drunk but even stronger."

"Why are they illegal?" she continued not noticing they were ascending through the air, or the others still to stun to talk.

"Because some have harmful side effects and different properties, I'll show you this week."

"Harry Potter! You may have sold drugs, but that is over and you will not introduce others to drugs!" His promise had sparked Hermione, apparently old habits die-hard.

"Apparently I wasn't informed but when did you gain control over me?"

"I will not have you doing things that are illegal…" said trailed off as she realized that they were an illegal vigilante group, fleeing the country, who practiced illegal magic, were practically inciting revolution, and were preparing to kill people.

Harry smirked when he saw the realization in her eyes. He wasn't surprised, she was taught at an early age that authority was right about everything, and drugs were at the top of authorities' no-no list. In a time of stress she reverted to old ways.

"You stole stuff?" Neville inquired unbelievingly.

"Yeah once I found out that they weren't tracking underage magic anymore, I became the top thief in London, I'm surprised no other wizards have done it before. I make so much money it's not even funny. An invisibility charm, a silencing charm, a summoning charm, an illegal portkey, an oblivate curse and I can have anything I want, or someone else needs."

"And you do this for this Mike?"

"Yep, he's a powerful mobster, makes most of his money selling drugs in his clubs. I started out with two of his associates first during summer break."

"So you're part of a gang?"

"Two and a crime family." He unbuttoned his shirt and revealed his Red Claws and Ravens tattoos.

"This is too much." Ginny muttered.

"Not really, take a look out the window." She leaned over and stared wide eyed at the ground thousands of feet below, and she fainted dead away.

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

Diclaimer: I wish I owned Harry Potter, don't you?

A/N:  
I am baaack.

This is the last of the original author's work (it was about 500 words and unpublished) so from here on out it's me and my beta, well mainly me I guess.

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and been waiting for this.

---- - ----

Katie Bell woke up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She was staying at Hogwarts for Christmas this year since it was her last year and her parents were going aboard for the holidays.

Katie was looking forward to having a nice hot shower followed by breakfast but her musings stopped when she noticed a sealed envelop on her dresser. She picked it up and noticed that it was addressed to her and has the SG symbol of a snake surrounding a phoenix with the letters 'S' and 'G' on either wing, on the wax seal.

She pointed her at the seal and said the standard SG password, "Darkness all over." The seal vanished and she removed the letter and unfolded it.

The letter was short and to the point, "Had to leave the country on short notice for a while. Took a few of the others with me. The Ministry is after us but we will be back as soon as possible to deal with them. You should not be in any immediate danger but stay on guard. If you feel you are in any danger send word to me and I will make arrangements for your safety.

Harry"

Katie did not like the sound of this but trusted Harry; if she didn't she wouldn't have joined him in the first place. Burning the letter, she got dressed and left to see if any of the other members had received Harry's instructions.

---- Downtown Italy ----

Harry and the rest of the group were currently riding a limo to their hotel. Harry could hardly keep a straight face sitting across from Ginny and Neville, both looking rather faint, being comforted by Hermione and Dean.

Tonks tried her best to look disapprovingly at Harry but she found it difficult to since it really was quite amusing watching the two of them on the plane. She'd never been on a plane before herself but Harry told her all about them and besides they had emergency portkeys back to their home.

"Relax Ginny. We're back on solid ground." Harry tried to reassure her but couldn't keep the laughter from his voice.

Ginny snapped her head towards him and with a look of outrage yelled, "I NEVER WANT TO RIDE IN THAT DEATH TRAP AGAIN!!! HOW WAS IT FLYING WITHOUT MAGIC?!?"

"It's a little hard to explain since I don't know the details but I guess the closest explanation would be that it's the same as how a car moves just much more powerful."

"Besides Ginny, it was bloody comfortable." Seamus interrupted, resting his hands behind his head and laying back in his seat. "Of course you would have noticed if you weren't passed out, screaming like a banshee or stunned."

The whole car was filled with laughter and Neville chuckled a little but they laughed even harder when Seamus jumped out of his seat to dodge the itching hex Ginny sent towards his crotch.

The rest of their ride was filled with small talk which ended as the limo pulled up to a grand looking hotel and the door was opened, "Welcome to the Hilton Hotel."

The group followed Harry to the reception counter where they checked in and were lead to their room. It was the Presidential Suite which had a hall that could rival the Gryffindor common room; it had a fireplace, dining table, a bar, big screen plasma TV and a balcony that overlooked the city.

"We get the master bedroom!" Tonks yelled the moment she laid eyes on the room with a king size bed.

"I call the couch." Everyone turned to Seamus, who was going to fight him for the couch? "What? Take a look at this thing." Seamus tried to hug the TV but it was wider than his arms. "I bet you can watch every sports channel there is on this thing. Think of all the football I could watch on it."

Everyone laughed at Seamus' reason but understood. Ginny and Hermione was going to share a room with two single beds so were Dean and Neville. After settling in their rooms which didn't take long since they didn't have much of anything with them, they gathered around the dining table.

"Ok guys. It'll probably take me a day or two to get in touch with Lord Lorenzo so we probably have a few days to do what we want. So what do you guys want to do other than training? For today at least."

"SHOPPING!" yelled Ginny and Tonks. Everyone else just groaned.

"I think I'll just stay and watch the telly." Seamus answered.

"I'll second that." Dean chimed in.

"Mind if I join you?" Neville asked and was warmly welcomed by the two.

"I think I'll do some light reading."

"Oh no you don't, Hermione. You're coming with us." Tonks interrupted.

"But…"

"No 'buts'. You're coming with us and that's final." Ginny's tone left no room for argument so Hermione just reluctantly nodded.

"Guess I'll join the…"

"Us." Tonks interrupted. "After all you can't leave three lovely girls to pay and carry their stuff do you?"

With his escape plan foiled, Harry just groaned and accepted his fate.

---- - ----

"That was great!" Tonks yelled as she walked through the door to their suite carrying a bag in each hand, followed by rather nervous/embarrassed but happy looking Hermione and Ginny each carrying a bag in each arm.

"It was nice of you to pay for our stuff but are you sure it's ok Harry?" Hermione asked Harry as he walked up behind them carrying three bags in each arm.

"Ya Harry you spent an awful lot of money on that trip." Ginny mentioned as four more bell-hops entered the room carrying more bags and boxes.

"I told you Ginny it's ok." Harry answered as he tipped the last of the bell-hops before walking over to the couch and crashing next to Neville.

There was a knock on the door which Harry got up to answer; he looked through the peep-hole to see who it was but saw no one there. Harry drew his wand before opening the door to check the empty corridors. He lowered his wand and was about to walk back into the room when he noticed a small brown envelop on the floor. Harry picked it up, started reading it and closed the door behind him.

"What's that Harry?" Neville asked.

"Looks like Lord Lorenzo knows we're in town. He wants to set-up a meeting." Harry looked up as the letter was set ablaze.

---- Abandoned Wine Vineyard ----

Harry, Tonks, Hermione and Neville followed a guard through the house till they reached the dining room. They found Lord Lorenzo with four of his inner circle sitting at one end of a rectangular dining table.

Lord Lorenzo was impeccably neat and crisp, with an edge on every word he spoke. An older gentleman, unhappy with his country's predicament, and willing to do everything to stop it.

"Sir I thank you for your graciousness in allowing me into your home to converse with you. I hope we can make a deal tonight." This formalness was hard; he had to think everything through before he spoke.

"Mr. Potter you have proven yourself an honorable man. I too hope relations can be reached between our groups." Lord Lorenzo motioned for the first course to be brought.

"Now Mr. Potter, what do you wish for me to do, if we establish an alliance?" Eating delicately, back ramrod straight, his men likewise. They were all rather non-descript fellows. Harry had been trying to imitate his posture, so far successfully.

"I would wish for you to publicly condemn Voldemort, help me make contact with other groups sympathetic to my cause, and help train my troops."

"Now I, if we agree to this, would like you to take a public stand against the Italian Monarchy, I would like you to be there on our final takeover, for you to be a Baron of a certain wizarding community when the takeover is successful, and financial backing."

"To take a public stand against the monarchy? I would hope then that you would veto all tariffs and embargoes on British products after you are in power. Otherwise there isn't much in it for the British people."

"Of course, I would say go even further and arrange an alliance with the Ministry. Assuming of course they are amenable to this?" This seemed to be a subtle hint that he assumed Harry was in control of the Ministry.

"I assure you the Minister is agreeable. As for financial backing, I'm assuming you have a figure in mind?"

"Around a billion galleons for the Italian coffers."

A billion, that was a large order, though it would hardly put a dent to the combined Potter and Black family fortune, it was still a large investment for this alliance.

"As a gift or a loan?" He asked hiding his concerns.

"Well to be fair, a no interest long-term loan. However I must say that because of the extravagant lifestyles of the monarchy and the heavy and unfair taxes the Italian wizarding community has been forced to endure we might only be able to pay back half of that within the next fifty years if at all."

"Before we get back to that, may I ask you a few more questions?"

"Of course."

"What do you intend to do with the money?"

"We do not have concrete plans thought up as we do not know how much is or will be left in the Italian treasury at the end of this but our main priorities will be housing, education and healthcare for those in need. Then rebuilding the economy, we may venture into muggle business sectors if need be."

"So you are not against muggles and half-bloods?"

"Pff… Perish the thought Mr. Potter. I have absolutely nothing against muggles, muggle-born or half-bloods. In fact, Mario over here is a muggle-born. First in your family I believe isn't that, right?"

"Yes." One of the men sitting at the table answered.

"We do not hold the same prejudice that Voldemort or most of the current British Ministry hold."

"That's good to know. What do you intend to do to the members of the monarchy and the aristocrats?"

"Well those who have treated the community fairly and have supported our cause will largely be left alone. However, those who have been known to be cruel and unfair will have their wealth and properties taken from them to be put to better use. This will include most of those higher up on the monarchy. Some others will be put on trial to answer for crimes against the people. The king will most definitely be put on trial."

"So you do intend to give quarter?"

"Yes. I believe you are asking this because of a news article that said I ordered the massacre of almost two hundred of the King's court including women and children, yes?"

Seeing Harry's nod, Lord Lorenzo continued, "Well I can assure you that that is not true. It is true that we attacked that villa when they were having a party; the only ones we killed were soldiers and those who fought back. We did not go there intending to kill everyone there especially women and children. The number of dead on both sides was not even a quarter of what they reported when we left. The papers here make us out to be like Voldemort's Death Eaters when we are nothing alike."

"I see. I know what it's like when the papers are against you which is why I did not entirely believe them when I read them. Has Voldemort ever tried to contact you?"

"Of course but we turn him down every time. Like I said we do not share the same ideals but the monarchy might."

"I see." Harry laced his fingers together in front of him and look like he was in deep thought before putting them down. "Lord Lorenzo, I believe we can form an alliance."

"Wonderful. Most wonderful."

---- Hilton Hotel ----

The rest of the group was starting to get nervous. Harry and the others have been gone for quite a while and they haven't heard a word from them. The nervous group jumped to their feet, wands drawn when they heard the door open.

They lowered their wands and sighed in relief when the saw it was Harry and the others and that they were fine.

"Hey guys. How was dinner?" He asked nonchalantly.

After filling the others in on what happened during the meeting, the group decided to call it a night.

"Neville I need to speak to you for a minute."

"Sure thing Harry."

"I need you to get in touch with your gran. I'd like to speak to her about the Ministry."

"Ok Harry. I can floo her later."

"Ok just let me know as soon as possible when she can talk to me."

"Alright." Neville left to go to the hall to floo his gran while Harry sat down and started to write a letter.

"Hey." Tonks walked up behind him.

"Hey." He replied without turning around as she wrapped her arms around him.

"What you writing?"

"Just a letter to Susan." He answered as he sealed the letter. His phoenix fire flashed next to him on the table. "Hey girl. I need you to deliver this to Susan. Thanks." It took the letter and vanished in a burst of flames.

"You know you really should give her a name."

"I know, I'll think about it tomorrow."

"Harry." Neville interrupted the two, "My gran's ready to talk to you now if you'd like."

Harry got up and walked over to the fireplace, "Evening, Mrs. Longbottom…"

---- - ----

Tonks woke up the next morning alone in bed, she sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes and saw Harry sitting at the table talking to his phoenix. She just watched for a moment before he gave her a letter and she fire-flashed away.

She got out of bed and walked over to him as he started to write another letter. "Wha'cha doing?"

"I just sent Lily off with a reply to Susan's letter and I'm writing another to Lord Lorenzo."

"So you finally gave her a name huh? After your mom?"

"Yup."

"What's the letter about?"

"Just tying up some loose ends. We'll probably be signing the contract for our alliance tonight."

"I thought we'd train till the afternoon then do a little sightseeing and shopping. We'll probably leave Italy tomorrow or the day after. Hopefully, it won't take long to settle the all that rubbish with Fudge and we should all be home for Christmas."

Tonks wrapped her arms around his neck, "Hmmm… that sounds wonderful."

Harry pulled Tonks into the hall and called out to the rest of the occupants, "Hey guys how about dinner then a play at the old theater district?"

---- - ----

The group decided to taking in the sights after dinner, the last thing they expected to run into was trouble but trouble was exactly what they got when Harry noticed a six black robed figures walk out of a building. One of them turned towards them and he noticed the tell-tale white masks.

"Fuck! Death Eaters!" Harry drew his barrette and shot two rounds into one of the Death Eaters' chest.

The others quickly drew their weapons. Tonks and Hermione put up anti-apparation and portkey wards while Neville, Dean and Seamus summoned near-by objects to form a barricade.

"It's Potter!" One of the Death Eaters spotted the group and was about to cast a spell but was hit by a stunner from Ginny.

"They are not to get out of here alive!" Harry ordered.

Neville and Dean continued to cast jinxes and hexes from behind the barricade while Hermione and Tonks entered the building next to them and made their way through it, trying to get behind the Death Eaters, only to run into five royal guards who started to fire curses their way.

"Shit!" Tonks cursed. "Harry! Harry!" She tried to reach Harry over the com-link.

"Ya?"

"We've run into some royal guards and they're attacking us."

---- - ----

"Shit!" Harry cursed and noticed a cloaked figure being escorted by two guards running towards a waiting carriage. "I think I see another prize. Cover me!"

Ginny and Seamus drew their Glorks and started giving Harry some cover fire while the latter ran towards the carriage. Harry got off two more shots from his barrette, hitting the carriage. He had to drop it as it was empty and rolled forward under two curses and drew his old wand.

"Stupefy! Stupefy! Bombada!" Harry quickly stunned the two guards and destroyed one of the rear wheels carriages before it could even move off. He stunned the carriage driver before he could even get up.

Harry opened the carriage door and moved back as two spells flew pass him. Harry drew his Desert Eagle and shot three rounds through the opposite end of the carriage. "Drop your wand and come out or the next three go through you!"

A wand was thrown out the carriage and the cloaked figure stepped out with its hands up. Harry quickly cast a full body bind before running back to help his group.

---- - ----

Seamus, Dean, Neville and Ginny separated and ran away from the barricade just as it was destroyed. Ginny paused for just a moment and fired the last bullet in her Glork which found its mark through the knee cap of one of the Death Eaters as he revived the previously stunned Death Eater.

Neville sent a bludgeoning curse at the head of the revived Death Eater, knocking him out again and knocking out some teeth.

Seamus cast a cutting hex at one of the last two Death Eaters, cutting off his wand arm. The Death Eater fell to his knees, his face locked in a silent scream. Seamus dropped his wand, absolutely shocked and horrified at what he had done.

Seamus would have dropped dead where he was if Dean hadn't tackled him out of the way of the killing curse.

"AVADA KEDEVRA!" Neville cast the killing curse without a second thought, killing the last Death Eater but dropped his wand when he realized what he did. "Oh good god… What have I done?"

---- - ----

Hermione and Tonks were having a hard time with the guards; they were better trained than they thought. They were hiding behind pillars on opposite sides of the hallway, Hermione going up against three while Tonks faced off the other two.

Hermione thought fast and pulled a fire-extinguisher from the pillar she was hiding behind before three spells bounced off the side of the pillar. Hermione waited till she saw that the guards were less than four meters from her, she threw the extinguisher as hard as she could and cast a 'Reducto' at it which caused it to explode into a large cloud of white gas. She quickly cast six stunners into the cloud hoping she hit all of them.

Hermione approached the cloud, her wand pointed at the quickly settling cloud. She cast a glance over to where she thought Tonks was but this momentary lapsed was all it needed for one of the guards that wasn't stunned to get up and tackle Hermione to the ground.

She tried to point her wand at the attacking guard but he knocked it out of her hand and wrapped both his hand around her throat.

"You're going to pay you little bitch."

Hermione was starting to panic, she wasn't strong enough to force this guy off her and her vision was getting blur from lack of oxygen.

Tonks moved around the pillar, ready to cast a spell only to lose her wand to a disarming spell. Seeing their chance, the guards came out of their hiding place ready to finish the job. But they were taken by surprise when Tonks charged them, drawing a knife in her left hand and her colt in the other; she stabbed one of the guards in the stomach and shot another in the head.

Hermione was about to pass out, her hand reached into her robe and pulled out her Glork and shot three rounds into the stomach of the guard. The guard's grip loosened as a look of shock appeared on his face. He fell over as blood poured from his mouth and took his last breath.

Hermione pushed the dead guard off of her and wiped his blood from her face. She quickly pointed her gun at Tonks when she heard her approach.

"Whoa." Tonks raised her hand showing that was didn't mean any harm. "Easy Hermione. It's me, Tonks."

Hermione lowered her gun but couldn't take her eyes of the man she'd just killed. "Come on let's get out of here." Tonks picked Hermione up by her arms and lead her out of the building.

---- Hilton Hotel ----

Tonks walked into the bedroom that she shared with Harry and found him sitting at the table smoking and stroking Hedwig.

"How are they?" he asked.

"They're still shaken but Lily helped calm them down but Hermione, Seamus and Neville aren't so good. They've locked themselves in their rooms."

"I see." Harry took one last long puff of his cigarette before standing up and putting it out. "Let's go."

TBC


End file.
